Dracula's Daughter
by Shritistrang
Summary: In this world, there is no such thing as Sailor Senshi... so what will stop the minions of Dracula when they rise and try to ressurect their old master? Usagi Tsukino, the reincarnation of Dracula's daughter herself, together with her allies and friends!
1. Vampire's Kiss

Usagi Tsukino was, for all intents and purposes, a pretty average Japanese school girl. She read mangas and comic heroes, she loved going shopping for clothes and shoes, she liked to gossip and to look after handsome, young men. She also had an enormous appetite, was kind of clumsy at times and usually had bad grades… especially in math and physics.

There was no way that anyone could have believed her to be any sort of superhero, magical girl or monster slayer. She had no supernatural powers, no magical weapon and no talking mascot. She was just… Usagi.

So if somebody had told her just how much her life would change after she'd save a helpless animal from a gang of rowdy kids, she'd probably laughed at them.

It was a pretty normal day, and Usagi was from her way home from school, when she heard loud noise coming from a side alley. One quick glance showed her three young bullies, who were mistreating some sort of small animal that was lying on the ground. Usagi couldn't really see what kind of animal it was, but she assumed it to be some sort of small dog or cat.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" she shouted, running up to the three small troublemakers. "Three on one? That's hardly fair! Leave that poor thing alone, you big meanies!"

Even though the bullies were three on one, Usagi was older than them. On top of that, they were really nothing but a bunch of cowards, so they just laughed, stuck out their tongues and ran away, leaving the little animal lying on the ground.

Usagi quickly knelt down next to it. "You poor thing," she murmured. "Did they hurt you? It's all right now. They can't…"

She was a bit taken aback when the animal looked up at her. It wasn't a cat or dog as she had assumed, but instead a bat. It was unusual enough for a bat to be out in the daylight, as they were naturally nocturnal enemies, even Usagi knew as much. On top of that, this bat was unusually big for its species. Its black fur wasn't fuzzy at all, but instead smooth and shiny. It was looking at Usagi with big, intelligent eyes.

"Hey Usagi!" That was the voice of her best friend, Naru Osaka. "I'm going home, too. You coming?"

"Yeah, in a minute," Usagi called back as she turned her head. But then, she heard the soft fluttering of wings and saw that the bat was already gone.

"Well, I guess it wasn't really injured at all," she shrugged, stood up from the ground and ran after her friend. "Wait for me, Naru!"

Hanging from a nearby lamppost, the bat was watching the blonde teenager as she walked alongside her friend.

"Usagi Tsukino…" it murmured to itself in a female voice. "Are you the one?"

* * *

Meanwhile, in a dark, gloomy chamber hidden somewhere beneath Tokyo…

A pale, but beautiful woman was sitting in a tall chair, sipping a red beverage from the wine glass she was holding. She was clad in a red, victorian-style dress which showed her ample cleavage. Some of the red liquid ran down her cheek, and she licked it up with her tongue. As she did so, a pair of fangs was briefly visible in her mouth.

Another beautiful woman, this one with an even bigger pair of breasts, was slowly coming floating down from the ceiling. This one was looking even stranger than the first one, as she had a pair of giant bat wings coming out of her back. As it was common with her species, she was scantily clad.

"How is your drink, mistress?" she asked the pale woman sitting in the chair.

"Quite good, thank you," the vampiress smiled. "Still a bit warm, as I like it… let me guess…" She took another sip and savored the taste. "A young, male human, still a virgin?"

"Indeed, mylady," the demoness nodded. "You have an excellent taste."

"There will be much more where this came from… as soon as we find the princess." The vampiress put the half-empty glass down on a small table next to her chair. "But now, let's get busy… we have a lot of work to do." She clapped her hands. "Medusa!"

She scraping sound of dry scales on hard stone could be heard as a monstrous creature crept from the shadows. Below her waist, her body was that of an enormous, green snake, while her upper body was remotely human… however, her face was only the twisted mockery of a woman's face, with elongated fangs and slitted pupils, like those of a snake. And instead of hair, there was simply a squirming mass of snakes sitting atop her head. A forked tongue came darting out of her mouth as she bowed in front of her mistress.

"You summoned me, Lady Carmilla?" the thing asked in a hissing voice.

"Indeed I have," the undead noblewoman nodded. "I have a task for you. While our Succubus friend…" She gestured to the winged demoness floating next to her. "And I are searching for the princess, I want you to go and gather some more humans we ca sacrifice to our master."

While Medusa smiled in anticipation, a sour look appeared on the Succubus' pretty face. "But mistress," she whined. "Why does she get to have all the fun? I'm pretty good at luring in mortals, you know?"

"Good at luring in mortal men, you mean," Carmilla frowned. "For the ritual, we need girls and young women… their blood will be a much better sacrifice. It will speed up our plans tremendously… and you know there isn't any time to lose. The ritual must be complete before the next new moon. And then…" A broad smile appeared on her face. Her elongated fangs were shining. "Our Lord Dracula will return to us once more!"

She then sternly looked at her servant. "But before he returns, we have to find his true heir. The only princess of the vampires, reborn in a human shell… we have to find her and return her true memories after her."

"If only those blasted Belmonts hadn't turned her beautiful body to dust, all years ago…" Medusa hissed angrily.

"We will have our revenge, as soon as our master returns," Carmilla assured her. "The revival of Lord Dracula and his daughter will surely lure out the heir of the Belmont clan… after all, us vampires tend to draw in the Belmonts as light draws in moths. And then…" A wicked smile appeared on her face. "They will step right into our trap!"

She looked at her servants. "But now, get to work! Medusa, you gather the maiden sacrifices while you, Succubus, search the city for our princess at night. And…" She gave the demoness another stern look. "Don't you dare get sidetracked by playing with mortal men!"

The Succubus pouted a bit as she and Medusa bowed again in front of the vampiress. "As you wish, mylady!" they chorused, before they departed.

* * *

In the middle of the night, Usagi was lying in her bed, fast asleep. She was snoring loudly, and half of her blanket was thrown off by her thrashing legs… as she was having her favorite dream, about the hunky boy who took care of the Crown Game Center in town.

"Motoki…" she murmured in her sleep. "Take me on a date…"

She never noticed how suddenly, her window opened by itself, neither did she notice the small, black shadow that fluttered into her room.

The black bat landed on her bed, careful not to wake her, and slowly crawled towards the sleeping girl's head.

She looked at Usagi for a moment… and then winced and covered her ears with her wings.

"She definitely makes a lot of noise…" she muttered to herself. "But there's no doubt… she is the one."

She hesitated a moment and then sighed. "It has to be done," she murmured. "If I don't do it, others will… and they will just reawake her bloodlust, turning her into the same monster Dracula wants her to be… I have no choice…"

She silently came even closer, leaned over Usagi's bare neck, opened her mouth… and then softly bit her, just enough for her teeth to slightly graze her skin. A single drop of blood came flowing out of the wound.

Usagi stirred a bit in her sleep, but she just turned around and kept on sleeping.

The bat sighed to herself. "The deed is done…" she murmured. "I hope she can forgive me… once she understands her true identity."

After one last look at the human girl, the bat spread her wings and flew back into the dark night. Usagi snuggled to her pillow, unaware of the fresh bite mark on her neck…

In her dream, she was running after her crush, Motoki, through a bright spring forest, laughing as she tried to catch him. "Wait for me!"

Her heart jumped when Motoki turned around, smiling warmly at her. She was overjoyed and prepared to jump into his arms… when all of a sudden, a sinister grimace appeared on the young man's face. Shadows surrounded him, and his figure expanded, turning into a tall, pale figure with a black cloak that fluttered around him like a pair of demon wings. The demonic man laughed evilly as he opened his mouth, revealing the sharp fangs of a vampire. Usagi became afraid as the bright forest turned into a macabre mirror image of it, a dark forest with crippled trees that resembled twisted claws.

"Come to me!" the scary man commanded as he reached out to touch her with his right arm. "Come back to me, my child!"

All around him, horrifying monsters of all kinds appeared. They were snarling, laughing and screeching at her. Usagi stepped back from the horrible image. "No…" she muttered. "No… no… NOOOOO!"

With a gasp, she awoke. Panting heavily, she sat up in bed and looked around. No scary forest, no evil monsters and no creepy man. She sighed with relief. "It was just a dream…" she murmured. "Just a bad dream…"

Unconsciously, her right hand rubbed her neck, where just minutes ago, the bat hat bit her… but the bite marks were gone.

* * *

Next day in school, Usagi had almost forgotten about school. One reason for this might be the math test she and her classmates had written the week before, and that was now handed out to them by Miss Haruna.

With disbelief, Usagi stared down at the red writing of her teacher.

"An F?" she whined. "An F?? WHY??"

Seeing the imminent waterworks, Naru turned around to her friend with a sigh. "I hate to say it, Usagi-chan, but you should have learned a lot more for this test."

"But it's soooo difficult!" the blonde with the twin pigtails sniffled.

Naru shook her head. Usagi was really unconvincible when it came to studying. Then she suddenly smirked. "You know what, Usagi? I know just the thing to keep you distracted from your bad grades?"

"And what's that?" Usagi wondered.

Her redheaded friend smiled. "There's a special exhibit of rare gems at our store today. They're way too expensive for girls like you and me, but looking never hurts, does it?"

Naru's mother, Mayumi Osaka, owned a jewelry store called Osa-P, which was situated in the shopping mall of Juuban.

Usagi's mood improved immediately. "Wow, really? I can't wait! Let's go right after school!"

But then she groaned. "Oh no! I can't!"

"Why's that?"

"I still have to do that homework for tomorrow. Mom will be furious if I don't manage to finish it in time…"

Naru sighed again. "You are hopeless… well, then just come after you're finished, okay?"

Usagi nodded and grinned. "That's right! I can still come!"

* * *

On her way home, Usagi had the uncertain feeling that somebody was watching her. She looked around a couple of times, but simply shrugged it off. It wasn't until she came close to her home that she got the idea of looking up.

She saw an unusually big bat circling over her head.

After blinking a few times, Usagi smirked. "Why hello there! Aren't you the same bat I saved the other day?" She chuckled. "You know, you're a pretty weird bat, aren't you? Flying around in broad daylight like that."

The bat tilted her head in mid-flight and then said in perfectly clear and understandable Japanese: "You know, it's impolite to call somebody weird."

Usagi let out a squeak of fear as she dropped her school bag. "The bat's talking!!"

"I have a name, you know?" the bat huffed as she landed on a nearby tree branch. "Allow me to introduce myself… my name is Luna."

"I think I'm dreaming again…" Usagi muttered as she slowly backed away. "Stay where you are!"

"I'm not hurting you, don't be afraid," the bat called Luna sighed. "Honestly… pull yourself together. I've come to tell you of your true destiny, Usagi."

"H-how do you know my name?" Usagi nervously mumbled.

"I've been watching you for quite some time. Unfortunately, we don't have much time, so I'll keep the explanation short. You need to realize who you really are?"

"What… do you mean?" Usagi asked in bafflement.

"You are unlike the other humans, Usagi," Luna said. "You have special powers… powers that are the strongest at night, under the moon."

Usagi nearly laughed out loud. That bat was crazy! "Oh, please!"

"It's true," Luna insisted. "Was there never a night when you sat at your window and felt the intense desire to fly free, roaming the darkness of the night among others of your kind?"

"Th-that's not true," Usagi protested, although the bat was somewhat right. There had been a couple of times when she didn't feel like sleeping and instead wanted to explore the night. Up to this day, she had never found an explanation for this weird craving…

"And don't you like your meat especially bloody?" Luna asked.

"Wh-what does that have to do with anything?" Usagi asked.

The bat looked at her intensely. "You are only half human, Usagi… in your veins, vampire blood is running."

"WHAT?? Are you INSANE?"

"I'm not insane, and I'm not lying," Luna replied. "Your ancestors were vampires… I suppose not even your parents know about this. However, this is not all. As a mere half-blood, I would have never informed you about all this. The reason I truly told you all this is… that inside you, you keep the reincarnated soul of an ancient vampire princess."

Usagi shuddered. What teenage girl didn't want to find out that secretly, they were really a noble princess? But… a VAMPIRE princess??

"You're lying! I'm not a vampire!" she shouted. "Leave me alone!"

"Listen Usagi, I can't lie to you about this. It is extremely important you accept your true identity before… before THEY do!"

"Who are you talking about?"

"The Lady Carmilla…" Luna shuddered. "The most loyal servant of… never mind." She shook her head. She doubted the girl was ready enough to learn that she wasn't only the reincarnation of a noble vampire, but in fact the daughter of Dracula himself. "She is a ruthless vampire, one of those who preys upon the humans. And she wants you to fully embrace your heritage, to become a full vampire who feeds upon the blood of the innocent. She prepares a dark ritual that will unlock your hidden imbitions…"

"No…" Usagi whispered. She couldn't listen anymore, but for some reason, she didn't dare to cover her ears.

"The only chance you have is to accept your heritage and try to control your instincts. You can overcome your bloodlust and live as a normal human… but only if you follow my instructions! Usagi, please believe me: I'm only doing this to help you!"

Maybe it was the pleading look inside the flying animal's eyes that convinced Usagi. She still didn't believe that she was a vampire or anything, but she realized that Luna didn't really mean her any harm, so she slowly nodded.

The bat sighed with relief. "Good. That's the first step. Okay, what we need to do is to awaken your powers… but without unlocking your inner bloodlust. That's why I bit you instead of a full-powered vampire, I…"

"WHAT??" Usagi was on her feet again. She glared up at Luna. "You BIT me?"

"Please, it had to be done," Luna winced. "Would you have let me bite you if I had told you in advance?"

Usagi thought about it and admitted the bat was right. "Well, okay… but what now?"

"Now we need to hurry. Carmilla's minions are out to capture innocents victim they can sacrifice to…"

"WHAT?" Usagi shouted. "How can they do this?"

"They are demons," Luna said firmly. "They are evil incarnate. You mustn't show them any mercy when you confront them."

"Confront them? Me? No way! Let's call the police and…"

"The humans can't do anything against the servants of darkness," Luna insisted. "Only a being with supernatural powers can hope to defeat them. You need to use your vampire powers to save the hostages…"

"But… but I don't know how," whimpered Usagi. She stared down at her hands helplessly. Why her? She was just a normal school girl… what had she done to deserve this? Why couldn't that bat find some other person to help her? "I don't even know where to find them."

"I don't know where Carmilla keeps her secret lair, but I do know that one of her personal servants is currently at a local store, where she took on the appearance of the owner to fool the other humans. And when enough humans are assembled, she will use her powers to render them helpless."

"Wh-which store is it?" Usagi muttered. She was fearing the worst.

"It's the Osa-P jewelry store here in Juuban," Luna explained.

Usagi let out a gasp. 'Oh no! Naru!' she thought.

* * *

Medusa was smiling herself. Disguised as the mortal woman, Mayumi Osaka, she was able to attract many humans to this shop. That there was a special display of rare jewels today helped tremendously. Now all she had to do was to wait until there were enough of them, then she could use her powers to turn them all into statues and bring them to her mistress…

"Mom!" the voice of a teenage girl called out. "Mom, can I talk to you for a sec?"

Medusa groaned inwardly. The only drawback this mission had was the annoying daughter of the true store owner. It wasn't so bad when she had been at school, but while she was at home, she had to make sure she didn't find out anything… especially not where she had hid the body of her true mother.

"Yes, honey?" she asked with an innocent smile as she turned around to face her 'daughter'.

Naru smiled at what she believed to be her mother. "Mom, I told Usagi of the exhibit… she's coming over in one or two hours. Is that okay with you?"

Medusa smiled. "Of course, Naru dear," she said. "Just tell her not to touch anything, all right? But for now, I'm a bit busy… so could you help me out with the customers?"

To herself, she had to grin. 'Excellent!' the snakewoman thought.'Another innocent victim that can be used to resurrect our Lord Dracula!'

"Sure, Mom!" Naru smiled happily as she vanished in the crowd.

When the store was full, Medusa nodded with satisfaction. 'Those are more than enough… time to set my plan in motion.'

With a magical mechanism, she caused all of the windows and doors to close. With another motion, she uncovered dozens of mirrors that had been hidden in the wall panels of the store.

Medusa looked into the mirror she was holding, the only mirror she would ever look into. For it was a magical mirror, one that did not reflect her ugly visage, but instead transferred her cursed gaze to the other mirrors in the building.

"You are under my control, feeble mortals!" she said. "Stop struggling… stop moving… turn into stone!"

Green rays were coming forth from her cursed eyes, rays that were emitted from all the mirrors in the room. Whenever a victim was struck by the rays, it instantly transformed into an immobile stone statue.

Naru froze in horror when all around her, the customers of the store were turned into stone. In the corner of her eyes, she saw a green light approaching her. In an instinctive reaction, she dodged the cursed eye beam with a backflip and landed close to the counter.

"An impressive maneuver, little lady," Medusa smirked. "But not enough to escape me!"

Naru screamed as the monster wrapped her arms around her upper body. "Who are you? You're not my mother!"

"Bravo for finding that out," Medusa laughed. "But I'm afraid it's too late… you shall be turned into a statue, too. Into a part of my personal collection… that is, until we'll sacrifice your soul to Lord Dracula!"

"No!!" Naru screamed as she saw how her mother's arms were suddenly covered with green scales. Behind her, her legs were replaced with a giant snake's torso. And in one of the mirrors, she saw how her hair was replaced with a squirming mass of snakes. "NO! Let me go, you monster!"

"Now don't worry, this won't hurt a bit," Medusa hissed as her eyes began to gleam.

"YOU LET NARU GO!!" a loud voice commanded.

Medusa looked around in confusion. Her eyes stopped gleaming. "Who said that?"

In one of the windows, a young girl who had her blonde hair in twin buns and pigtails was standing and glaring at her angrily. "I don't know what kind of monster you are, but you better let my friend go now, you stupid… thing!"

"Another victim?" the monster hissed. "Very well… the more, the better."

"Usagi, no!" Naru yelled. "Run!"

Inwardly, Usagi was shaking like a leaf. She didn't know where she got the courage to say that to the snake monster… and why its appearance didn't freak her out as it should. In fact, it somehow even seemed familiar to her…

"Don't just stand there, Usagi!" Luna shouted, perched upon a lamp hanging from the ceiling. "Use your powers! Transform into your true form! Fight!"

Naru was baffled. A talking bat? Usagi's powers? What was going on here?

"YOU!" Medusa hissed as she recognized Luna's voice. "As soon as I'm finished with these meddling girls, I will gladly bring your corpse to Lady Carmilla, you traitor! She raised her hand and squeezed her claws around Naru's neck. "But for now, let's just kill this annoying girl…"

"NO!! I WON'T LET YOU!" Usagi shouted. A sudden rage filled her, combined with the fear of losing her best friend. The rage and sorrow clouded her mind, drove away the fear and innocence and unlocked her hidden powers that were carried over to her generation in her blood… the powers of a vampire.

Usagi screamed as she was engulfed in a black cloud that turned into a flock of vampires. Her skin grew paler while her clothes transformed into a skimpy, dark purple bodysuit that resembled a leotard. A cloak, as black as a moonless night, wrapped itself around her shoulders and fluttered like a pair of demon wings. Her eyes turned blood red while her teeth grew long and sharp. With one final screech, the transformation was complete… and the vampire princess was reborn!

Following her instincts, Usagi instantly recognized the creature down in front of her. As a reborn daughter of Dracula, she inherited her father's power of controlling all monsters. And while she was in no way powerful enough yet to make use of that power, it helped her to know the monster's name.

"You! Medusa!" she shouted in a commanding voice as she floated in mid-air. "Drop that human… or face my wrath!"

Naru gasped at this display. Was this really Usagi? Her demeanor had completely changed… underneath the helpless crybaby and clumsy schoolgirl hid the personality of a creature of the night.

Medusa frowned. "I don't know who you think you are, young upstart, but I think you should learn to know your place. You are apparently nothing more than a young fledgling, and you are a couple of centuries to soon to give me commands! And this human is none of your concern… so back off and don't interfere with things you understand nothing of, young vampire!"

While Medusa felt a certain unease in her presence, Usagi's powers were not nearly complete enough for the snake demon to realize that this was truly the vampire princess… the daughter of her lord.

"I've warned you…" the vampire Usagi had turned into snarled. She held out the palm of her right hand… and in a blast of darkness, a swarm of tiny bats shot forth from her hand, engulfing the creature and its victim. While both Medusa and Naru cried out in horror, only the demon was actually harmed. The bats were tiny, but they made that up with their enormous number. They scratched, bit and blinded Medusa, until she was forced to drop her hostage. In one quick motion, Usagi swooped down and picked up her friend. She didn't know why she was able to fly this easily when she had never done it before. It just came natural.

In a corner of the room, Usagi carefully placed her friend to the ground while her bats were keeping Medusa busy. "Are you okay, Naru?" she softly asked.

Naru nodded nervously. She didn't really understand what was happening, but she could tell that Usagi was still there. There was a certain, dark aura surrounding her that affected even her behavior, but Usagi was still in control. "Y-yeah… I'm fine. Those bats took me by surprise, that's all."

"Good," her vampire friend nodded. "Stay here, I'll be right back." And she flew back into battle.

Naru was dazed for a moment, so it took her a moment before she remembered something: 'Oh no… Mom! What did that monster do to her?'

While she heard the yells and screeches of the fighting creatures (she had to remind herself that one of the creatures was her friend), she searched the house for her mother. She finally found her locked in a wardrobe, bound with a thick rope. Naru quickly freed her.

"N-naru…" her mother murmured. "That monster… that was…"

"I know," Naru nodded. "Medusa. Mom… where's the key?"

"I… I have it…" Mrs. Osaka sighed. "But Naru… you know we swore never to begin this again… the reason your father is dead is…"

"I know that!" Naru shouted. "But that didn't help a lot, did it? They still found us…and Usagi, she's… she's in danger. I have to help her!"

Mayumi shook her head with sorrow. First fate took her man from her… her parents had always scolded her that she did not only marry a gaijin, but one who kept such questionable things in the house such as crucifixes, swords and holy water. Mayumi understood the reason but could never forget the day her beloved husband died in battle. And now… her precious little daughter wanted to take up the mantle of her father and fight.

Still, she knew it had to be done. She reached into her pocket – luckily, Medusa hadn't searched her – and gave it to Naru. "Here it is… take it. Open the chest… and take your father's legacy into your own hands. You are not just an Osaka… you are a…"

"I know, Mom!" Naru nodded. "Don't you worry."

After hiding her mother in her bedroom, she ran to the big, locked chest her father had brought along from when he moved to Japan from his home country in Europe. Using the key she got from her mother, she unlocked the chest and took a good look at its contents. She never had any training in fighting demons or the undead… but she didn't need it. It was in her blood.

She took a bottle of holy water, a couple of throwing knives… and her father's whip.

"I am… a Belmont!" she proudly stated, standing up with the ancient weapon of her forefathers, the Vampire Killer.

* * *

To be continued…


	2. Enter the Red Blaze

The young girl holding the whip stared at the monster in front of her. "I am Naru Osaka… descendent of the Belmont clan!"

"Naru-chan?" Usagi asked in a surprised voice.

"A Belmont…" Medusa murmured. Suddenly, she began to laugh. "I knew it! It was just a matter of time before you showed up! Now we can take our revenge for the humiliations your clan has put us through for all these centuries!"

Naru looked at her friend. "Usagi… let me help you win this battle."

"Naru… I didn't know you can fight," the vampire blurted out. Then she shook her head. "What am I saying? I've never been able to fight before either."

"It's in our blood, I guess," Naru smirked.

Medusa couldn't help but laugh. "You are siding with a vampire, vampire slayer?"

"My clan has used this whip to slay vampires for many centuries," Naru nodded. "But this one is different. She is my friend and I will never hurt her."

Usagi was a bit taken aback. Vampire slayers? Naru had never told her about that. Then again, she had never spoken a lot about her family… and now that Usagi thought about it, her mother was the only relative of Naru that Usagi had ever met.

And then there was this feeling of unease whenever she looked at the whip in her friend's hand… it looked like a normal leather whip, but it still made her shiver.

She shook her head. This was her best friend.

"I'll deal with you once I have killed this upstart vampiress," Medusa growled. With an angry snarl, she gestured in Usagi's direction. Without any warning, a shower of snakes came flying from her head, heading towards the young vampiress. With a gasp, she raised up her arms to cover her face… and by doing so, made her cloak shield her whole body. The snakes were harmlessly reflected.

"You fight good, for a fledgling vampire," Medusa hissed. "Still, do you think you have any chance against a creature as old and powerful as me?"

"Well, I'm willing to try," Usagi shouted back, surprised at her own confidence. "I won't let you harm Naru-chan or any other person."

"You don't know what you're dealing with, whelp," the monster hissed. "And who ever heard of a vampire protecting humans?"

"I don't care! Maybe what Luna told me is true, and I am really a vampire… but… I would never harm innocent people! And if I can protect them, then I will."

"Well, if you wish to die that badly…" Medusa grumbled. Baring her fangs, she slithered at her foe, with a speed unnatural for a creature her size.

But then, something got wrapped around the monster's wrist. Angrily, she turned her head. "How dare you?" she yelled.

Naru pulled her whip with all her force, which made the monster stumble a bit.

"Well, you seem pretty inexperienced with that weapon, young lady," Medusa grinned. "This is going to be easy… my mistress will be overjoyed to have your head!" And she lunged at Naru.

"YOU LEAVE NARU-CHAN ALONE!" Usagi screeched as she spread her arms. Without knowing how she did it, her cloak transformed into a pair of bat wings which she used to dive at the snake creature. She wrapped her arms around Medusa's neck, holding her in a headlock. Medusa growled as she struggled against the vampire's grip, but Usagi's strength had increased dramatically with her transformation.

"Nice going, Usagi! Hold her like that for a moment," Naru shouted. She took a couple of throwing knives, held them between her fingers and threw them at her opponent in one swift move.

Medusa let out one last screech, before the knives struck her in the eyes. Medusa's screech turned into a frantic wail as the green light from her eyes slowly spread over her whole body, turning it into stone. In the end, Usagi was holding a lifeless statue.

"Is she dead?" Usagi wondered as she let go of Medusa.

Naru shook her head. She had read enough of her father's old books to know about the ancient enemies of the Belmonts. "Not yet. There's one final thing that needs to be done… step back, Usagi!" She took the Vampire Killer, drew it back and whipped it at the petrified Medusa. The ancient weapon of the Belmont clan hit the statue with the force of a sledgehammer, cracks appeared in the chest area… and then it collapsed in a heap of rubble.

Naru sighed as she dropped her weapon. "Finally…" she murmured.

Usagi slowly approached her friend. Her wings had turned back into a cloak. "Naru…"

"Usagi, I… I wanted to tell you about this, but… my mother always hoped that… that we could end this. That we could live in peace, without having to fight the battles of my ancestors. But… it looks like the Belmonts are destined to hunt monsters, wherever they go."

"I hope this doesn't include me," Usagi gulped.

Naru chuckled. "No way! In fact, I know that one of my ancestors was friends with a half-vampire himself. I suppose you are not a full vampire, or else you would have… you know…"

Usagi blinked. "What are you talking about?"

"She's talking about your bloodlust," Luna spoke up from up above. "And while you definitely have to drink some blood every now and then, you won't turn into a bloodthirsty killing machine."

Naru looked up at Luna, then at Usagi. "A talking bat?" she asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes," Usagi smirked. "But never mind that now… what do we do with those poor people?" She gestured at the still petrified customers standing around them. It was fortunate that none of the statues got damaged in the battle.

"Don't worry, I know how to turn them back to normal," Naru said. "There's a book with old recipes in it in my father's chest… I often read it and I remember one potion that turns petrified victims back to flesh."

"I'd like to help… but I guess I shouldn't stay around," Usagi said. "No matter what happened, I think people would still be afraid if they saw a real life vampire." She looked up at Luna. "Luna… please tell me I can turn back to normal."

The bat sighed. "I'm afraid that now your dormant vampire genes have been brought to the surface, you will stay like this… however, you CAN use magic to alter your clothing, and to disguise you as a human. However, it takes some practice to master that sort of magic."

"But you can teach me, right?" Usagi asked in a hopeful voice. She might have accepted her vampire heritage, but she'd still be unhappy if she had to abandon her former life.

"I think I can," Luna nodded. "It's gonna take a while, though… don't you think we should tell your family?"

Usagi shuddered at the thought. "Mom and Dad are gonna freak when they find out… Shingo will most likely think it's cool. But I guess you're right… I can't keep this a secret from them for too long."

"Well, your secret is definitely safe with me," Naru smiled. "You can count on that."

Usagi smiled back at her. "Thank you, Naru. Well, I guess I better head home… it's getting dark."

Naru nodded. "Okay… take care. And… do I see you at school on Monday?"

Usagi sighed. "I really don't know, Naru… we'll see. See ya later…"

When she left the store, she looked up at the sky, which was getting dark. The moon was already visible, partly covered with clouds.

Luna landed on Usagi's shoulder. "I know that look and I know what you're thinking…"

The new vampiress smiled. "Yes… I don't think I'll be going home right away. This night is going to be beautiful… I guess I'll enjoy it a bit before going home."

And she spread her cloak, transforming back into wings as she flew off into the night.

* * *

Carmilla put down her glass with a frown. "It seems like Medusa failed."

"I always knew she was a weakling," the Succubus grinned. "Do you want me to find and kill the ones who did this?"

"Not until we know who really is responsible," the aristocratic vampire said. "If there's a Belmont or a Belnades involved, we need to change our schedule. For now, focus on finding the princess."

"As you wish," the Succubus nodded before leaving her mistress.

Carmilla took another sip of blood before she called out: "Laura!"

Another vampiress, this one clad in a dark blue, formfitting bodysuit, came dropping down from the ceiling and instantly dropped down on one knee. "You called, mistress?"

"Yes." Carmilla smiled at her favorite servant. "I have a mission for you. I want you to find out if there is a member of the Belmont of Belnades family in the vicinity of Juuban." She reached into a small chest standing next to her chair and produced a curved dagger. "This weapon was used against members of both clans, and their dried blood is still coating the blade. Use this to follow their track."

Laura accepted the weapon and bowed her head. "As you command. Any other orders?"

"Yes… make sure to stay hidden. Try to avoid any confrontation until you have proof that it is truly them."

"Yes, mistress." The servant stood up and turned around to leave.

"By the way, Laura…" Carmilla spoke up. "Any sign of Death yet?"

Laura turned around one more time and shook her head. "No, mistress. I haven't heard of him in centuries."

"The old fool…" Carmilla huffed. "What does he think he's doing? The revival of our master draws closer, and with his help, the rituals will be much easier to perform. And he calls himself a main servant of Dracula… Very well, Laura, that is all."

Laura nodded and left.

* * *

At the edge of town there was an old chapel… it looked dark and ominous. Crows were flying around the tall spires… which sharply contrasted the modern skyscrapers of Tokyo.

One might wonder why such a gothic-looking church would be built in a place like that… after all, Christianity was not as spread in Japan as was Shinto or Buddhism. The most curious thing about the chapel was: The stone it was made of looked like it was centuries of years old. Almost as old as the ancient Shinto temples and shrines, even though there were no such chapels built in Japan during that era.

The chapel was rarely visited. The old priest that tended to the place was quite pleased with that, as there was a reason why the chapel was so secluded. And this reason was perched on top of the highest spire of the church.

It was an old statue that looked like a demonic figure with bat wings, claws and a lizard-like tail that was wrapped around its haunches. Its mouth was opened in a feral snarl. The most unusual thing about this statue was that, unlike most of such gargoyles, it had female features.

In the far distance, the sun was slowly setting, until the moon and the city itself were the only sources of light.

As soon as she last sunray had disappeared, the gargoyle began to stir… it shook violently, cracks appeared in its surface… and a red-skinned, black-haired creature broke free of its shell with a mighty roar.

The female figure spread her arms and wings. There was nothing like a refreshing nap to refresh a young gargoyle's body and spirit. Spreading her wings, she leapt off the tall spire she was standing on. Using the winds, she skillfully glided down until she stood in front of the chapel gates, where the old priest was already waiting for her.

"Evening, grandpa!" she smirked. "Had a busy day?"

"It was pretty quiet, Rei," he shrugged. "There were a couple of nice-looking, young ladies, though…" He snickered to himself.

A frown appeared on Rei's red face. "Grandpa, you're an old lech!" she scolded the human who was like family to her… but who also could get on her nerves at times.

"Yeah, so?" Grandpa Hino chuckled. Suddenly, he became serious. "But enough joking around. Rei, something astounding has happened… the daughter of Dracula has awoken!"

She stared at the old man. "For real?" she gasped.

"Rei, I've raised you ever since you hatched from your egg," Hino said. "You know me better than any other human. Would I ever joke about such a matter?"

"No… I guess not," she muttered. She was dumbfounded. She had known this day would come, but… so soon? "I don't know if I'm ready for this, grandpa…" she sighed. Her wings and tail were drooping.

"Now now, no need to worry. You are the last of your blood, Rei. Your parents left your egg in my care with the great hope that one day, you would continue their legacy."

"I know," Rei sighed. "We are the protectors of the princess… we swore to serve her once she awakens… to make sure she doesn't take the path of evil."

"That's right," her grandfather nodded. "It's going to be difficult, no doubt about that. But you can do it." He smiled proudly at her. "You are the last gargoyle of your line. The blood of Firebrand runs within you… you are the last one, the last Red Blaze."

"I guess so," she muttered. Shaking her head, she looked at town. "Well, no need to wait now… I guess I should go and look for her." She still was worried. "Grandpa… what do I do if she rejects me? If she doesn't like me?"

"Now cheer up, you don't know that. Maybe she is the nicest girl you ever met," he smirked. "And meeting her will be much better than just staying at this boring old chapel with no company except the crows."

Rei smiled at him. "I have you, grandpa."

"I know, but believe me, I know about teenagers of your age… they need friends their own age to hang out with, to have fun. And being the protector of a vampiress that should be your own age seems like the best chance to find new friends to me."

"Thanks, grandpa!" Rei said. "You are right… I've been bored to death for some time now, always staying here, leaving only for a couple of flights over the city, always lonely… I will try to find the princess. And if she accepts me, I will do my best to keep her away from her father's evil ways."

"That's my girl," Hino grinned. "Now you get those wings in movement and fly along!"

Smiling at him one more time, Rei leapt up into the air, buried her claws in the stone wall of the chapel and slowly climbed upwards, until she reached the peak. On top of the spire, she turned to face the city, spread her wings… and took off into the night, flying to meet her destiny…

* * *

Author's Notes:

Yes, I combined the history of Castlevania with the story of Ghouls 'n Ghosts/Gargoyle's Quest. The gargoyle Firebrand has always been one of my favorite video game characters, and this story allows me to use him as the ancestor of Rei.

I don't know yet which role each of the Senshi will take, but I do know that Usagi and Rei won't be the only non-humans among them.

And as a final note: I don't plan on making use of the Aria of Sorrow/Dawn of Sorrow storylines, so Soma Cruz will NOT appear. Also, if Alucard should make an appearance, it will probably NOT be as 'Genya Arikado'.


	3. The princess meets her servant

The night wasn't too dark, since it was illuminated by the city itself. The moon, however, was only partly visible as it disappeared behind the clouds in irregular intervals.

There were quite a couple of creatures of the night that would think of such a night as too bright for their tastes. But amongst them, there was one who just recently learned of her powers… and who also just learned that she loved flying around at a night like this.

The vampire princess landed on the rooftop of an abandoned warehouse while looking at the moon with a smile. A black bat was fluttering around her.

"It's so beautiful, Luna," Usagi said softly. "Isn't this weird? I've never been the kind of girl that liked to go out late, but look at me now…"

"It's the instinct of a vampire, Usagi," Luna replied. "While you are only half vampire, your genes give you that natural attraction to the darkness that all vampires have. Face it, you've become a nocturnal predator."

"You mean I have to drink blood?" Usagi asked her in an upset voice.

"Unlike true vampires, it is not needed. However, if you don't drink at least a bit of blood regularly, your bloodlust might overcome your common sense… which is why I advise you to find a way to quench that thirst. Maybe you'll find a person who is willing to let you feed upon him or her a couple of times…"

"I'll only do that if I absolutely have to," Usagi said with resolution. "Well, I can still rob a blood bank…" She chuckled to herself.

Luna rolled her eyes at the princess' humor. "Very funny. Now, don't you think this was enough for tonight? Your parents will most likely be worried about you… and you still have to tell them about your new identity."

"In a moment," Usagi said. "First, I'd like to find out what that is."

Luna blinked. "What are you taking about?"

Usagi pointed at the moon, where a dark silhouette with wings was visible. It was quickly approaching her. "That thing, over there. It has wings like I do…" With a thought, she transformed her cloak back into a pair of leathery wings. "You think it's a vampire, too?"

"I don't think so," Luna murmured. "As a vampire familiar, I have the ability to sense the natural aura of all vampires… no, that's something else. However, it doesn't have to be friendly… so stay on guard."

"Fighting again?" Usagi sighed. "This new job never gives me a break, does it?"

Luna rolled her eyes yet again. Now the princess saw her destiny as some sort of part-time job…

The creature reached them quickly. They now saw that it was a being with sharp claws, red skin and a long tail. It also had the built of a teenaged girl.

"You are the vampire princess," the creature spoke up as she landed on the roof, in front of Usagi.

"Yeah," Usagi replied while eyeing the creature curiously. "What's it to you?"

"I've been looking for you…"

"First of all, state your name and business, gargoyle," Luna commanded. As a former pet of Dracula's family, she had the right to do so.

"I am Rei Hino of the fire clan of gargoyles," she introduced herself.

"Hino?" Luna wondered. "But that's a human family name."

"I've been raised by a human," Rei explained.

"Oh, really?" Usagi was intrigued. Here was a creature of the night, just like her, raised by humans. "And what do you want with me?"

She was surprised when the female gargoyle dropped down to her knees. "My lady… I am here to pledge loyalty to you. I am at your command… as my family has sworn to protect you ever since they defected from Dracula." She lowered her head.

"H-hey, wait a minute," Usagi spoke up. "I'm new to this whole vampire business, you know? I barely know anything about… well, who I used to be in this former life. I've just come to terms with my newfound abilities and I don't think I want servants…"

"I beg of you, please do not reject me, princess!" Rei pleaded. "I've been waiting for this moment my whole life… there's nothing else I can do in a world of humans. And I would rather die than serving evil…"

"Don't talk about dying! And get up from the ground!" Usagi shouted. Rei looked up at her in surprise. She saw that the young vampiress was offering her a hand with a smile.

"You know, I could use some help… but instead of a servant… why can't you be my friend?"

Rei hesitantly took the hand and stood up. "A… friend?" She meekly looked at the ground. "I never had a true friend…"

"Then I guess it's about time," Usagi smiled. She shook the gargoyle's claw hand. "Hi, I'm Usagi. Wanna be friends?"

A hesitant smile spread the gargoyle's face. "Y-yeah, I'd like that."

Then a sudden scream was splitting the darkness. They quickly turned their heads.

"What was that?" Rei gasped.

"It's coming from the park," Usagi said. "Maybe it's what's-her-name's servants again?"

"Who are you talking about?" Rei asked in a confused voice.

"The Lady Carmilla," Luna explained. "An evil vampire who commands the forces of darkness in Dracula's absence."

"You… you're talking about THE Dracula??" Usagi asked in a shocked voice.

"Yes, I do… and I fear that Carmilla's trying to collect young girls as a sacrifice… for a ritual to ressurect her old master. That's the reason why Medusa took on the form of your friend's mother."

"Well, we can't allow that," Usagi frowned. She jumped up on the edge of the roof. "Rei-chan… whaddya say we help those people in need?"

Rei had come here, ready to put her life on the line in her mistress' service. And now that Usagi had offered her friendship… she was more than ready to follow her anywhere.

"I am ready, my princess!" she said as she spread her wings and stood next to her friend.

Usagi frowned at her. "Stop calling me that!"

Rei just smirked at her and together, they flew off.

* * *

Five minutes ago… a young woman was taking her little dog Miyo for a walk. Her name was Unazuki Furuhata and she was the younger sister of Usagi's crush Motoki… and in the evening, she enjoyed strolls through the park.

"Let's take the path past the fountain, Miyo," Unazuki smiled. "The flowers growing around the fountain are the most beautiful flowers in all of Juuban."

Her little fox terrier (her brother had given it to her as a birthday present) barked once, and Unazuki smiled as she took the path that was taking her to the fountain.

But when she reached the place…

Unazuki's eyes widened and she nearly dropped Miyo's leash in surprise. "Oh my…" she murmured. "This is new…"

Growing in front of the fountain was the biggest, most beautiful flower she had ever seen in her life. It somehow resembled a huge rose, or maybe a tulip with closed petals… it was bright red and bigger than the fountain itself. And this wasn't the only unusual thing… all around the fountain, smaller versions of the huge flower were growing, each of them about half the size of the bigger bulb. Unazuki clearly remembered that the evening before, these strange plants weren't here.

"I wonder who planted them here…" she said as she slowly walked among them. Miyo curiously sniffed one of the closed buds. Unazuki looked up at the largest flower. "But they are really beautiful…"

She gasped when without any warning, one of the smaller flowers opened, spreading its petals. A large number of green vines came shooting out of the flower and the ground around it. Unazuki let out a shrill scream when she and her dog were grabbed by the vines… and pulled into the flower, which closed its petals around her body. Her cries became more muffled… and then everything became silent.

A soft giggle was coming from the large flower.

Only a few minutes later, two winged creatures with leather were landing on the soft grass. "What's this?" Usagi gasped. "What's with these flowers?"

"Those are no ordinary flowers…" Rei growled as she bared her claws. "I smell something… the stench of evil… LOOK OUT!"

The two girls jumped out of the way when a bunch of vines came shooting out of the ground and missed them just barely.

"What the…?" Usagi gasped.

"It's over there!" Rei growled and gestured at the largest flower bud. "RRAAAAAHH!" She opened her short muzzle, and a fireball came flying out.

"YEOWCH!" someone yelped when the fireball set one of the flower petals on flame. The flower opened and revealed the nude, upper body of a beautiful woman with pink hair. She angrily glared at the young gargoyle. "What's wrong with you? You wanna set my whole body on fire?"

"That was the idea," Rei snorted. "Don't play dumb! I know your species… you are here to lure unsuspecting humans into your trap, devouring them as you trap them with your smaller buds."

"That's a bad thing to do," Usagi frowned.

"Careful, Usagi… an Alura Une is a conniving fiend," Luna squeaked.

"Well, that's just rude," the flower monster said as she crossed her arms below her ample bosom. "Why do you have to bother me? I'd like to eat in peace."

"Eat?" Usagi asked. "Eat what? There's no food around here."

The Alura Une giggled. "I beg to differ," she smirked. "Or do you think all these flowers are empty? They all contain my latest victims…"

Usagi gasped. "You… you let them go, you monster! I won't allow you to eat them!"

"Oh, I'm not eating them," the Alura Une shot back. "I'm gonna deliver them to my mistress… so we can use their life energy to revive our dark lord!"

"Not if this gargoyle has anything to say about it," Rei growled as she leapt at the monster. A number of vines tried to block her way, but she simply shredded them with her talons.

"Stupid little girl… go away!" the Alura Une shouted. As Rei approached her, she gestured with her arms and a wall of thorns grew out of the ground, blocking the gargoyle's way.

"You coward! Come out and fight!" Rei roared.

"Leave this to me, Rei," Usagi smirked as she approached the wall of thorns. Spreading her wings, she focussed her powers… and transformed the wings into a swarm of bats. Back when she fought the Medusa, she had already used bats as one of her attacks… and she felt that these were actually parts of her own body, extensions of her will. Using her mind, she commanded the bats to fly over the thorns and attack the plant monster directly.

"OW!" it screeched when dozens of bats bit and scratched her. "Out of my hair, you little pests! Hey, get them off me! That hurts!"

Distracted by Usagi's swarm, she didn't defend herself when Rei broke through the wall of thorns, using her claws as a machete. Usagi came after her new friend. "This is your last chance," Usagi told her warningly. "Release the humans… or else!"

"Bite me, you filthy halfbreed!" the Alura Une hissed.

Usagi simply shrugged and stepped aside. "Rei, if you please…"

"Gladly!" Rei smirked as she stepped forth. She took a deep breath…

"No! WAIT! I changed my mind…" the Alura Une quickly shouted.

But it was too late. Rei exhaled… and the big flower, along with the upper body with the Alura Une, was engulfed in flames. The evil creature screeched one last time, then it died.

Usagi sighed. "Well, that makes two monsters I've killed today…"

"You did well," Luna told her as she landed on her shoulder. "And don't feel bad… they deserved death. And look, now that she's dead, all of her victims are released."

She was right. All around them, the smaller flower buds opened. A great number of confused, young women came stumbling out of the withered flowers.

"What… what happened?" one of them murmured. It was Unazuki. "I only remember being pulled into that flower."

"It's all right," Usagi told her. "We freed you. The evil monster is gone."

Unazuki and the other women looked at Usagi and Rei with wide eyes. A couple of them were afraid when they saw the wings and Rei's feral look, but Unazuki stepped closer. "Who… are you?" she asked the vampiress.

Usagi smiled as she called back her bats, transforming them back into wings. "I am… the Vampire Princess! And from this day on… the humans of Tokyo are under my protection."

"You're amazing!" Unazuki gasped.

"What are you doing?" one of the other women whispered. "Look at her! She's not even a human!"

"But she saved our lives," another woman spoke up. "Shouldn't we at least be a bit grateful?"

"But what if she saved us just because she wants to suck our blood?" another girl shouted. "She said it herself, she's a vampire!"

"We should leave, Usagi," Luna whispered. "Don't worry, the humans will get used to you… given some time."

"I sure hope so, Luna," Usagi sighed as she and Rei turned to leave.

"Wait!" Unazuki called out after them. "Please, just a second…" She ran after them.

Usagi looked at her. "Yes? What is it?"

Unazuki sadly looked down at the small, furry body she was holding. It was her dog, Miyo. "Please… can't you help her? You've got special powers… can't you make her wake up?"

Usagi looked down at the little dog. "Luna?" she quietly asked the black bat.

Luna shook her head. "I'm sorry," she sighed. "The Alura Une's flower buds are draining a living being's energy away to keep her victims helpless… Normal humans are just paralyzed as long as she's alive, but this dog has such a small body… all of its life energy was drained."

Usagi sighed and closed her eyes. "I'm sorry I can't help you."

Unazuki sniffled. "It's not your fault… oh, my poor little Miyo…"

Usagi grasped her hand comfortingly and then spread her wings. Together with her new friend, she flew away.

"I wish I could have helped that poor girl," she sighed.

"We were lucky enough to find out about that monster before it sacrificed its victims," Rei said as she glided next to her. "At least no human was hurt."

"Why are they doing this?" Usagi asked. "Why now?"

"The dark count can only be revived every 100 years," Luna explained. "And the next date is drawing nearer and nearer… around that time, his servants also become more powerful."

"We need to do something," Usagi said. "We need to protect the humans… we need to make sure that those monsters stay away."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Rei nodded. "And at the same time, we can make sure they can't gather enough sacrifices to revive him."

"You'll help me, Rei?" Usagi asked.

"Of course!" the gargoyle smiled. "That's what friends are for, right?"

Usagi smiled back at her gratefully. Then she thought of something. "Oh no… I have to go home. I have to explain everything to Mom and Dad… they will be so worried."

"Go ahead," Rei told her. "I need to find a quiet place to spend the night. When the sun rises, I will turn into stone… but next night, we can meet again. Don't worry, I'll find you."

"Okay. Thanks for helping me today, Rei. You are the nicest gargoyle I ever met."

"Good to hear it," Rei smirked. "Well… take care!" And they parted ways.

"Usagi…" Luna looked at her princess. "Rei is the only gargoyle you've met up to now."

"So? She's still nice," Usagi said.

* * *

When the first sunrays were breaching through the trees, Unazuki and her brother Motoki were burying the small body of Miyo in a secluded area of the park.

"Goodbye, Miyo," Unazuki whispered. "I wish I had more time to spend with you…"

She cried a bit and her big brother hugged her. A couple of minutes later, they left.

They didn't notice a lonely figure standing in the shadows of the trees. A dark cloak and a hood were covering its thin body and its face. The blade of a huge scythe was glinting in the morning sun.

"One more life meets the comforting embrace of Death…"

The figure looked up into the sky. "But Dracula's life is eternal… and soon, he will be back to cover the world with darkness once again," it spoke in a soft, female voice.

And when the sun had risen completely, Death was already gone.


	4. Back to school

By the time the sun was rising, Rei had returned back to Grandpa Hino's chapel, while Usagi headed home... to face her parents.

She landed in front of the house and transformed her clothes back into her regular school uniform. She approached the door and took a deep breath.

"No worries, Usagi," Luna told her. "They will get used to the new you… in time. Well… good luck!" And she flew up to the nearest rooftop.

"I guess I need it," the half-vampiress sighed as she stepped forth. Before her finger reached the bell button, however, the door opened… and she was faced with the stern face of her mother.

"Young lady," Ikuko Tsukino scolded her only daughter. "Do you have any idea what time it is?"

Usagi gulped nervously. "Um… morning, Mom."

"Don't you 'Morning, Mom' me! Your father and I were worried sick. Just look at you! You're so pale…" She felt her daughter's forehead. "Are you ill?"

"But Mom, I…" Usagi winced. "Look, just let me in and I'll explain."

"I sure hope so," her mother frowned. "And you better make it a good explanation, or you'll be grounded for a week. Come, your father is in the living room."

They went inside, where Usagi's father Kenji was sitting in front of the television screen with wide eyes.

"Well, dear, your daughter says she has an explanation for why she's been out all night," Ikuko began, before she noticed that her husband wasn't even paying attention. "Honey… are you listening?"

Kenji pulled his eyes away from the screen. He briefly looked at his wife, before he stared at his daughter. His gaze then wandered back and forth between the TV set and Usagi.

"Ikuko… have you seen the news?" he finally blurted out. Usagi's mother raised an eyebrow before stepping in front of the TV. And when she saw the image on the screen, her jaw looked like it was ready to hit the floor.

Usagi stepped next to her parents… and gulped when she saw herself, in her vampire garments, with a pair of dark wings growing from her backside, flying next to a red-skinned gargoyle girl.

'Oh no,' Usagi thought to herself. 'Someone filmed us?'

Her father stared back at her. "Usagi… is that you??"

Usagi winced. "Yes, Papa…"

Kenji looked back at the screen, then at Usagi and shook her head. "But… how?"

Usagi sighed before forming her black cloak in front of her parents' astounding eyes. They both gasped at the display.

"Wow, that's cool, sis!" came a voice from the door. They all turned around to see Usagis younger brother, Shingo standing there in his pajamas.

"Shingo!" Kenji scolded. "Why aren't you in bed?"

"Never mind about Shingo," Ikuko shouted. "What happened to my little girl?"

"Mom, Dad, Shingo… I guess I'll start at the beginning," Usagi sighed. "We better sit down, this will take a while…"

* * *

"So… you're a vampire now?" her father asked in a disbelieving voice after Usagi had finished her tale.

"Half-vampire, actually," Usagi corrected him.

"Awesome," Shingo blurted out. "Does that mean you'll go flying around and suck out blood from everyone? Will you bite us, too?"

"No, I won't," Usagi rolled her eyes.

"Darn," Shingo cussed.

"But honey… you are so calm about this. Aren't you even upset?" her mother asked.

"Well, it was a big surprise, I admit," Usagi said. "But I think I got used to it… in fact, it really feels natural to me. But… are you okay with it?"

"Well…" her mother hesitated. "I guess it will be hard getting used to… on the other hand, you are our child and will always be. So if that is what you want…"

Usagi smiled at her. "Thanks, Mama!" She then looked at her father. "Papa?"

Kenji sighed. "I don't believe this…" he murmured. "I know that many teenagers do many things their parents don't understand. But couldn't it have been something harmless, like a tattoo or a piercing? Nooo, my daughter had to become a vampire…"

"Sorry, Papa," Usagi smirked. At least he was taking it with humour.

"And now what? Are you going to sleep in your coffin all day?" Shingo asked.

"I don't HAVE a coffin," Usagi sighed. "I'll go on with my normal life. I'll go to school and everything."

Her mother smirked. "Good, because there's a test coming up on Tuesday."

"Did you have to remind me?" Usagi groaned.

* * *

Two days later…

It was a Sunday and Usagi was dreading the following day, when she had to show her new self in front of the whole school. Sure, she had Naru to back her up, but she was still nervous.

Usagi was lying on her bed, on her back, her wings lazily spread behind her. Luna was sitting on the windowsill. Up to now, Usagi hadn't told her family about the talking bat. She didn't know how they would react to that, especially since they hadn't even met Rei yet. Usagi wanted to reveal one surprise at a time, or else, she feared, the shock would be too big for her parents to handle. It was bad enough that over the past few days, several onlookers and paparazzi had assembled in front of their house. Apparently, someone had recognized Usagi during her night flight with Rei. Finding out her address was a piece of cake for any competent journalist. It seemed as if every newspaper in the area wanted to shoot a picture of Juuban's very own 'vampire girl'.The only reason Usagi wasn't on the title page now was that her father had threatened the reporters to call the police… and after that didn't work, he pulled out his old shotgun. That was more enough to chase most of the onlookers away.

Luna watched Usagi as the young vampiress spoke into her cellphone. "I'm telling you, Naru, I envy. I mean, even if they knew you were the successor of a clan of monster hunters, that wouldn't be nearly as big news as the 'Juuban Vampire Girl'. I was even thinking of staying home tomorrow…"

"Wouldn't do you any good, Usagi-chan," Naru said. "You've got to go back to school at some time… better get it over with. You'll see, at some point they'll all get used to you."

"I wish I had your optimism," Usagi groaned. "Say, how's your mother? Did you manage to get rid of all the rubble in the store?"

"Yeah, the police didn't even ask any questions regarding the rocks that remained after Medusa's death. Still, after I helped my mother clean up, I packed the stones into a bag and threw it into the river. I certainly don't want the remains of an ancient snake monster lying around in my house. Oh, I read a few of my father's books. Did you know the whip can be magically powered up?"

"Sounds fascinating," Usagi yawned. "But can we make this short? I'm a bit tired after last night…"

"Why, what happened?"

Usagi sighed. "City patrol with Rei. Looks like she takes her job pretty seriously. She says that it's better to find Carmilla's monsters before they show themselves, to avoid any unnecessary victims. I swear, that gargoyle never relaxes."

"But that's a good idea, isn't it?"

"Yeah, maybe, but it kept me up the whole night." Usagi yawned again. "And while I certainly love flying at night, I need some sleep, especially if I don't want to fail at the test on Tuesday."

"You've got to introduce me to her one of these nights," Naru replied.

* * *

Monday morning.

Usagi stood in front of her school. She looked at the gates and gulped. Today, she looked just like she did on any school day… no vampire wings, no black cloak, just her regular school fuku. The only difference about her was that she was a bit paler than usual.

Naru, who was standing next to her, put a hand on her friend's schoulder. "No worries! I'm here with you. It won't be that bad… and if anyone decides to say anything funny, he'll get a taste of my whip." The redhead giggled.

"But you left your whip at home."

"Then I'll just kick them."

Usagi sighed and looked at the nearest tree, where she could see a dark shape. They had decided that Luna should stay nearby as a lookout, in case any of their enemies was nearby. This way, the little vampire bat could quickly warn them.

Even though Usagi was hoping for a normal, quiet school day.

Together, they approached the gate. After taking a deep breath, Usagi opened and stepped in.

The entrance hall was full of students. As soon as Usagi stepped inside, everyone became quiet and stared at her. Feeling everyone's gaze on her, Usagi wished she could just turn around and go back home.

Gathering her courage, she tried to look as normal as possible and kept on walking. All the pairs of eyes in the room were following her.

Just before Usagi reached the stairs that were leading up to her classroom, a harsh voice spoke up from the crowd of students: "Why are you here? Go back where you came from, monster!"

Usagi stopped dead in her tracks. She couldn't believe her ears. Monster? Her?

Naru spun around. She furiously glared at the crowd. "Who said that? Who insulted my friend? Say that to my face!"

Those who knew Naru were a bit surprised that the normally shy girl stood up this resolutely for her friend. However, the girl who had shouted the insulted wasn't so easily impressed. The crowd parted and made way for her.

The girl had blonde hair that was falling over her shoulders in long curls. Instead of the common school fuku, she wore a dark red fuku with a blue tie. She also wore a blue bow in her hair, red boots and a pair of red, fingerless fighting gloves. Naru gulped when she recognized the girl… this was Karin Kanzuki, the snooty daughter of the rich Kanzuki family. She wore whatever outfit she wanted and acted in whatever way she wanted, since usually no student or teacher dared to go against her influential family.

She also was a trained martial artist, so that's just one more reason why no one stood up against her. Usually, Naru would have never dared to oppose her.

But ever since she had decided to take up the whip of her father, she had become determined to be stronger so she could become a good vampire hunter just as her forefathers. And in her eyes, this also meant going against any sort of injustice. Also, she didn't like the way this girl was talking to her friend.

"Keep your comments to yourself, Kanzuki," she said, stepping up to the blonde. "Usagi is a student like anybody else here. She's not a monster and she's definitely not dangerous."

Everyone gasped when they saw Naru standing up against Karin. The rich girl just smirked. "You are kidding, right? I'm sure I'm not the only one who has seen the news on the weekend. Are you saying the vampire flying over Juuban was not Tsukino?"

"No!" It was Usagi who replied. She stood next to her friend. "I won't deny it, I'm the one you saw on TV. However, I'm just a half-vampire."

Karin raised an eyebrow. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"It means," Naru intervened. "That she's not a danger to you or any other one."

"How can we be sure?" a boy from the crowd spoke up. "She's clearly not human."

"She admitted she's a vampire!" a girl shouted. "Do you want us to wait until she sucked out all of our blood?"

"You see?" Karin sneered. "We don't want a monster like you at our school. So why don't you move your undead self out that door and never come back?"

"Hey!" a girl from Usagi's class spoke up. "Usagi never did anything bad. I'm never willing to believe that she could be dangerous."

"Yeah, let's give her a chance," an older boy nodded. By now, the crowd was clearly split in two: Those students that sided with Usagi, and those who agreed with Karin.

"See, Usagi?" Naru told her friend. "There are more than enough people who don't care about what you are."

"Well, I don't care what those losers are thinking," Karin said. The tall girl took a step closer and put her hands on her hips as she towered over Usagi. "Either you leave… or I'll make you leave!" And with those words, she cracked her knuckles.

"You think the teachers would allow that?" Naru grumbled.

Karin snickered. "You think they'd dare throw a Kanzuki from this school? Don't make me laugh. And now step out of the way before I have to hurt you as well."

But Naru moved no inch. She stood protectively in front of her friend.

Karin huffed. "If you wanna get hurt that badly…" She drew back her fist… until someone grabbed her wrist from behind.

"Who dares?" the rich girl yelled.

A girl with a brunette ponytail, equally tall as Karin, was standing behind her. Also like karin, she wasn't wearing the regular school fuku, hers was colored brown and white.

"Hey, isn't that the new girl?" a voice in the crowd began to whisper.

"Yeah, that violent one. I heard she thrashed four boys the other day."

Karin looked at the brunette snidely. "You've got a lot of guts to do that. What's your name?"

"Makoto Kino," he other girl replied. "And I suggest you try picking on someone your own size for a change."

Karin pulled herself from Makoto's grip. "Well, if you insist…"

At that moment, two teachers were coming down the stairs. "Hey! What's goig on here? No fighting, girls!"

Karin lowered her fists and grinned. "Looks like you're lucky this time, Kino… the same goes for you two!" She glared at Naru and Usagi.

"No, YOU'RE the lucky one," Makoto growled. "In a fair fight, you'd have no chance against me."

"Oh? Is that supposed to be a challenge?" Karin smiled.

"You bet it is!" Makoto nodded.

"Students!" the teacher spoke up again. "Haven't you heard the bell? Go to your classrooms, right now!"

"Today, after school, on the basketball field," Karin whispered to Makoto before she left. "Don't disappoint me."

"Don't worry, I won't," Makoto snarled.

Since Makoto was in the same class as Naru and Usagi, they went to class together.

"You didn't have to do that, Makoto," Usagi told her.

"I know, but I can't stand anyone who acts like they own the world. She must be taught a lesson."

"You know, I could have taken her…" Usagi said. "But thanks for the help anyway."

"Ah, it was nothing," the tall girl grinned. "Besides, I somewhat know how it is to be an outsider. At my old school…"

"Well, you've never had the problem of being a half-vampire," Usagi sighed.

Makoto sighed and looked down at her hands. "No… I guess not…"

'Still, we're not that different from each other…' she thought to herself.

* * *

While the first lesson of the day had already begun, someone was standing outside of the school premises, watching the building with a great interest. It was a tall man with dark skin, blonde hair and several scars on his muscular arms.

"So, I've finally found you…" His eyes began to gleam while his fingernails briefly reformed into deadly-looking claws. "Makoto 'Blue Crescent Moon'…"

* * *

Author's Note:

I guess only Castlevania fans can understand the hint at Makoto's true identity at the end…

Also, I hope you're okay with my decision to add Karin Kanzuki, a character from Street Fighter. I needed a snobby, arrogant school girl who can fight at least as good as Makoto, and she was ideal for the role.


	5. Makoto's rival

Makoto kept her promise. After school, she and Karin stood on opposite sides of the school's basketball field, glaring at each other with fierce eyes.

Rumors of the fight circulated fast, and so it was no surprise that most of the students were assembled. They all were unconsciously standing on the side of the opponent they were siding with or whose opinion they shared. The teachers knew they couldn't stop this from happening, so they didn't interfere. They knew that Makoto, as well as Karin were fair fighters and wouldn't go as far as injuring their opponent so badly that they had to go to hospital.

Usagi carefully tugged at Makoto's sleeve. "Mako-chan… you don't have to do this."

"Yes, I have," Makoto insisted. "That bitch had it coming. If she doesn't accept you for what you are, fine… but if she keeps mobbing you, I'm gonna shove her own words down her throat!"

She cracked her knuckles and stepped forth. Karin gave her a smirk and came closer, too.

"Well, you ready?" the blonde smiled.

"Ready to kick your butt," Makoto growled as she raised her fists. Karin just grinned and went into her fighting stance.

An enthusiastic girl from Karin's class was made the referee. They knew she wouldn't simply side with Karin. She and Karin may be friends… but they were also rivals.

She raised her hand. "Ready?" She brought it down. "Fight!"

And when the two opponents began to pummel each other with punches and kicks, the girl with the headband couldn't suppress a grin. "This is so cool! I've never been a referee!"

Another girl from her class sweatdropped. "Aren't you a bit too enthusiastic about this, Sakura-chan?"

While the students cheered and shouted, Karin and Makoto were focussed only on the fight. Karin blocked a swift punch of her pony-tailed opponent and attacked with a sweeping kick. Makoto skillfully jumped over it and aimed at Karin's upper body with her foot.

Karin foresaw this attack and grabbed Makoto's foot with her feet. "Too slow!" And with a fierce move, she tried to shove her opponent to the ground. Makoto caught her balance, however, and attacked with a full-body tackle.

Karin was taken aback and grunted from the impact, however, she grabbed Makoto's body and tried to bring her down. Makoto grabbed her arms in turn and the fight had turned into an intense wrestling match.

Makoto winced when she noticed that Karin was slowly pushing her back. She began to sweat. "What's the matter?" Karin asked. "You look like you've got problems." She snickered. "This battle is already mine. Just give it up, it'll be easier."

The arrogant sneer on Karin's face was enough to push Makoto over the edge. With an almost inhuman growl, she pushed against the other girl with all her might. Karin gasped and intensified her pressure on Makoto, but then she looked at the other girl's eyes and saw a strange glint in them. They weren't human eyes… they were the wild eyes of an animal.

"What the…?" she gasped. Makoto snarled, and Karin focussed back on the battle. She tried one more time to push the other girl back, but her strength was no match for Makoto's raw power. Her legs gave way, and she found herself being pushed on her back. Makoto's hands had her arms in a steel-like grip and her fingernails began to bury themselves in the flesh of Karin's arms.

The rich girl shivered. For some reason, this girl frightened her beyond belief. "STOP!" she cried. "Stop it, I give up! I give up! Just stop!"

And suddenly… Makoto found herself awakening from her fit of rage. She let go of Karin's arms and looked down at her fingernails, which were covered with blood. Her hands began to shake. 'No…' she thought. 'No, I thought I could control it…'

She slowly stood up from the ground, barely noticing the bewildered crowd that looked at her in astonishment.

"Um… um, I guess… that makes Makoto the winner," Sakura muttered weakly. "Um, congratulations…" But she was just as befuddled as were the others. They hadn't seen the wild glint in Makoto's eyes or the blood on her fingers, but they clearly had witnessed how savagely she had fought. And they had heard the frightening growls she had been making.

Karin crawled backwards to the end of the field before she stood up on shaking legs. Her trembling finger was pointed accusingly at Makoto. "You… you're one of those freaks too, aren't you?"

Usagi approached her friend from behind. "Mako-chan…"

Makoto simply clenched her fists and ran away from the basketball field and from the school compound.

Usagi felt a bit helpless. She turned around to Naru. "What's wrong with her?"

"I'm not sure…" Naru murmured. She bit her lip. "Well… maybe… I have a hunch. But… I think we need to calm her down. Usagi, you're faster than I am. Can you catch up with her and speak with her? I need to check something out in Dad's old book…"

"Um, sure thing, Naru-chan," Usagi nodded. Then she began to ran after Makoto. Keeping up with her shouldn't be too hard even without using her wings. After all, she was a vampire now and Makoto was a human… wasn't she?

Meanwhile, Naru hurried home, all the while muttering the phrase "Werewolves... werewolves..."

* * *

Makoto panted as she ran around the corner. She leaned against a house wall with her upper body and began to pound the bricks with her fists. "Dammit…" she whispered as tears began to run down her face. "Dammit… I thought I could control it! All that training… was it for nothing? And it's not even a full moon yet…"

"Well, isn't this pathetic," a voice behind her spoke up. Makoto's eyes widened. She spun around and faced the dark-skinned, muscular man who had snuck up behind her.

"Ortega…" she whispered.

The blonde man grinned as he towered over her. "What happened to Makoto, Blue Crescent Moon, the only wolf-beast from our clan that managed to keep her powers under control? Has she turned into a weak little school girl? Or can't she simply control her own temper? Looks like all that training was for nothing…"

Makoto clenched her fists. "What do you know?" she spat. "Do you know how hard it was for me to reach this goal? To live like a normal human again? The members of our clan have been outcasts for centuries… not able to live with other people because of our curse. Of course I wanted to change that!"

Ortega scratched his chin. "Hmmm… was that before or after you killed your own parents?"

A deep growl escaped from Makoto's throat. "IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" she shouted. "You know that! Don't you dare bring that up again! What do you think why I chose to do my training in the first place? It was to PREVENT such a tragedy from happening ever again!"

"Oh, is that so? Could have fooled me… I mean, I've seen your battle. The look on your face when you grabbed that girl… you were ready to strangle her. To bury your fangs in her soft flesh and…"

"That's not true!" Makoto shouted.

"Oh, really? Then why are your hands covered with blood?"

Makoto roared with fury. This time, she didn't hold herself back. In a flash, she transformed, growing even taller in the process. Her face pushed out into a long snout, grey fur covered her body from head to toe and clawed feet came bursting forth from her shoes. She dove at Ortega with bared fangs… only to be stopped by a pair of clawed hands that were covered with yellow fur.

"You have no control," Ortega spoke in a rumbling voice. Makoto looked up at a muzzle full of teeth. "You have yet to realize the full extent of our powers… the true potential that can be unlocked by siding with the right people."

"How…" Makoto muttered as she stared at Ortega's transformed form. "How can you control it… I… I thought I was the only one…"

The were-lion pushed her back and spread his arms. "True power, Makoto! Unlike you, I didn't go through any training… I was given a gift. A gift to control my transformation with no difficulties. I met someone… someone who realized my true potential. And with her help, I can do what I never managed to do: I can beat you!"

"Who was it?" Makoto yelled. It almost sounded like a bark. "Who did this to you?"

"The Lady Carmilla," Ortega sneered as he raised his fist. "She offered me this gift… in exchange for eternal loyalty."

"You made a pact with Dracula's followers?" Makoto murmured. She then bared her teeth. "TRAITOR! Our clan made a promise never to side with the minions of evil… the power of the beasts can't fall into the wrong hands!"

"What do I care?" the lion-man roared. "Of what importance is a promise to me that was made eons ago, by a couple of old geezers who never understood the meaning of true power? All that matters to me is your defeat… at my hands! I'll kill you if I have to, but you will go down!"

"You are so stupid," Makoto snarled. "Grow up, Ortega! We were how old when I defeated you in front of our old master? Fourteen? Fifteen? Is that little childhood grudge of yours so big that you can become a traitor?"

"You'd never understand!" Ortega shouted. "You've always been the best at everything! It's always Makoto this, Makoto that… and after you returned to our village, proud of having mastered the control over your beast side, everyone celebrated you as a hero. They even gave you the name that only one member of our clan had ever carried before: Blue Crescent Moon! And me? They all ignored me! They scolded me for my failures! They laughed at me when I wanted to accomplish what you did! Well, they won't laugh any more… not after I'll finally defeat you, once and for all!"

"So that's why you're here?"

"Well, that's the main reson, yeah. However, I'm officially here at the order of my new mistress." He held out his paw with a smile. "It has come to her ears that you managed to acquire a most precious artifact…"

Makoto's hands darted to her breast pocked. "You want the Eye of Anubis?"

"Lady Carmilla needs it. A powerful ally of Dracula will soon arrive in Tokyo, and this amulet is needed to reanimate his body. His powerful magic will be a great help when the time has come to revive the lord of darkness. So give it to me!"

"Never!" Makoto growled.

Ortega smirked. "I was hoping you'd say that… very well!" He flexed his muscles. "I've been waiting for this a long time, Makoto… don't you disappoint me!"

Makoto winced when the towering form of the were-lion stormed at her. She never fought Ortega in his beast-form before, and who could tell just how stronger he became after forming the pact with Dracula's allies.

Before the two were-beasts could begin their fight, however, a flock of bats came flying down from the sky and right between the opponents. Ortega stopped as if he had hit a brick wall and Makoto could only stare when the bats merged and transformed into her friend Usagi.

"If you want a piece of Mako-chan, you'll have to go through me first!" she shouted.

Ortega raised a bushy eyebrow. "So, you're the vampire brat Carmilla and the others are after, eh? I'm not here to play with you, little girl, so step out of my way! Dracula's minions will hunt you down soon enough, don't worry."

Makoto was surprised as well, but then she shouted: "Usagi, step out of the way! This is my fight!"

"The heck it is!" Usagi yelled back without even turning around. "You just had a fight… facing him at this condition would be more than unfair. Also, you're my friend… you've got to be crazy to think that I'd let you face this idiot all alone!" She then looked over her shoulder and winked. "Us scary monster-type girls have to stick together, don't you agree?"

Makoto sighed, but then a smile spread her wolfish features. "Well… can't argue agains that logic." And she stood beside her friend, entering her combat stance.

Now facing two opponents, Ortega realized that he was at a disadvantage there. He wanted to beat Makoto, and he had promised to return the Eye of Anubis to Carmilla, true… but he didn't want to risk being beaten up by a pair of school girls… or worse.

"Looks like you win this round," he said as he transformed back into a human. "But I'll be back, Makoto. For the amulet… and for your ass!" He pointed at her with a grin.

"Get out of here, you perv, before I sink my teeth into YOUR ass!" the she-wolf barked.

Ortega smirked one last time, then he turned around and disappeared behind the corner.

Usagi sighed in relief. She really wasn't in the mood for a fight. She then smiled at the werewolf standing enxt to her. "Looks like you also had a secret, huh?"

"Usagi…" Makoto began. "I really didn't want to lie to you…"

"Aw, you never really talked about it, so it wasn't a lie, right?" the vampiress smirked. "C'mon, lose the fur for now. I wanna invite you for ice cream!"

Makoto smiled as she turned back into a human. "Sounds good!"

And together, the two shapeshifters approached their next goal: The Crown Fruit Parlor.

"Say…" Usagi said while they were walking. "What was all that talk about anyway?"

"Well, you see, that guy and I go way back…"

"Not that! That's your own business. I mean, what about that amulet he spoke about?"

"Oh. Well, a good friend gave this to me some time ago, see? And he told me to keep it safe…"

"I see… and when he said that some ally of Dracula is coming to town, do you know who he was talking about?"

"You know, I really have no idea…"

* * *

At the same time, a cargo plane was entering Japanese airspace.

"Tokyo Airport, request clearance to land, over!"

In the cargo area of the plane, several huge crates were standing, several of which were on their way to one of Tokyo's many museums. Inside one of these crates, an piece of history was transported… an ancient Egyptian sarcophagus.

Inside the sarcophagus, a moldered, dead body was resting, wrapped with bandages, waiting for a chance to rise again…

A smaller, also bandaged body was pressed against the bigger mummy.

"Phew! Did you have to do that, Artemis?"

"Hey! Do you know for how long we've been in here? It's not like I can have a bathroom break."

"Well, it's still disgusting." The female mummy shuffled around a bit in the darkness.

"Ow! Thanks a lot, Minako, that was my tail!"

"Well, it's not my fault it's so dark in here. How long until we reach Japan, you think?"

"What am I, a stewardess? Just be patient and wait."

"But it's soooo boring in here!" the Japanese girl turned mummy whined.

"Maybe if you hadn't brought us into this mess, we could fly first class…" the mummified cat mumbled.

"Shut up! How could I know that this coffin is cursed? First thing we'll do once we land is to sneak out of this plane and find the amulet we were told about. With a bit of luck, it can turn us back to normal."

"Hopefully," Artemis sighed. "It's been so long since I've enjoyed a simple piece of tuna…"

"You think you've got it bad? No boys will ever take a look at me as long as I'm trapped in this rotten body," Minako wailed.

"Well, you look quite good, for a mummy… Aw, you know what? I don't think it's gonna work. I mean, we don't even know where to look for this 'Eye of Anubis'…"

"Be quiet! We just have to keep searching. Nothing gained, nothing ventured."

"It's 'Nothing ventured, nothing gained'," the mummy cat grumbled.

* * *

Author's Notes:

Well, here we have the next Senshi. More about how she got turned into a mummy and how Makoto got that amulet in the next chapter.


	6. Minako's story

In the twilight of dusk, a dark figure could be seen through the trees of the park. Making sure that nobody was around, the beast-man leaned against the bark of a tree.

'I'll get her sooner or later,' Ortega thought to himself. 'They are just a couple of school girls and I have the forces of Dracula on my side. Revenge will be mine…'

"Where in the name of Hades have you been?" A female voice shook the lycanthrope out of his thoughts. A sleek vampire woman in a skintight catsuit came dropping ddown from the trees and stood in front of him.

"You were supposed to meet me here an hour ago," Laura snapped. "What took you so long?"

Ortega sighed. The servant girl was very irritating, so he thought. Just because he was hired by her mistress didn't mean that she, as her personal servant, could boss him around.

"I ran into an… old friend," he replied.

The vampiress understood. "So you've found the werewolf girl. Were you able to collect the Eye of Anubis?"

"Unfortunately, she had help," Ortega growled. "The half-vampire you've been looking for has befriended her. And if she really is who you're claiming she is, I couldn't take them both on at once."

"WHAT? You ran into the daughter of Dracula and didn't feel the necessity to inform us?" Laura nearly screamed.

"Wasn't part of my job," the were-lion growled. "Your boss told me to get the Eye of Anubis for her and that's what I'm gonna do. It's just going to take me a little longer than planned."

"Listen here, fleabag!" the vampiress hissed as she approached him. "The revival of Lord Dracula is our primary goal, and every bit of delay will work against our schedule. You are on our side now, so you better do what we tell you or the devil help me I'll…"

"I'll tell you what I WON'T do, little missy!" Ortega roared, suddenly turning into his half-beast form. He had been tall before, but now Laura had to look up to even see his face. "I won't let a little servant-girl such as you give me any sorts of commands! At best, we are equal in this, as your boss gave me this assignment in person! I hope we're clear on this, vampire!"

Laura knew that her mistress would do everything in her power to keep her from harm, but she also realized it was unwise to anger a were-lion. "Very well…" she muttered. "Do you know where they are?"

"I know where they live," Ortega snorted as he leaned back against the tree. "That's at least something useful, isn't it?"

"Good… looks like you're not as useless as I thought you would be," Laura muttered under her breath. "Well, we can still get her to join us… for now, let's focus on the Eye of Anubis. The sarcophagus has been delivered to the museum this evening. I will spy on the werewolf girl and wait for the right chance to grab the amulet…"

"NO! Makoto's mine!" Ortega rumbled. "It was part of our agreement!"

"Calm down! I'll let the mutt live. You can still have your revenge. But now that the princess has sided with a gargoyle, a werewolf and the last daughter of the Belmont clan, we need to be cautious. Stealth is a much better option than brute strength for now. You know we are short on troops, especially after Medusa and the Venus Weed were killed."

"Serves those weak bitches right," Ortega huffed. "But I see your point… so, that's why your mistress wants the mummy on her side, huh?"

"Yes," Laura nodded. "With Akmodan II on our side, the revival of Dracula will be imminent."

"Okay, but what do you want me to do in the meantime?" Ortega asked impatiently.

"Mistress Carmilla said that there might be another troublemaker in town. She wants you to find him and hunt him down before he gets the chance to side with the Belmont girl."

"Well, sounds easy enough… and who is the unlucky guy?" Ortega grinned.

"It is… the last son of the Lecarde family."

* * *

As the sun disappeared behind the horizon, the red gargoyle broke free from her stone shell. Rei flexed her muscles and sighed.

"Time to get up already?" she yawned. "Oh well… maybe the princess… eh… Usagi is here already." She had to remind herself to use the princess' first name, even though it took her some time to get used to it. But Usagi insisted on being seen as a friend instead of a sovereign. After all, what's a princess without a kingdom or even a castle?

Rei wasted no time and spread her wings, gliding down to the entrance of her grandfather's chapel. She saw that the door was open and she could hear voices coming from inside.

'Ah, so Grandpa has already let her in,' she nodded to herself and followed the voices. She was surprised, however, not to find Usagi, but instead two girls she had never seen before talking to her grandfather. And… when she came closer, she realized that one of them had fur… and a tail.

"Werewolf…" she growled to herself. And of course, she believed the stranger to be one of Dracula's followers. All the non-human creatures she had met up to this point weren't exactly friendly towards humans, so why should it be different with this girl?

With a short snarl, she caught the attention of the three people in the chapel. "You! Werewolf!" she shouted. "Stay away from my grandfather! I mean it!"

"Well, isn't she a nice one," the female werewolf grumbled as she crossed her arms across her chest.

"Rei, calm down!" her grandfather said in a stern voice. "That's no way to behave in front of guests."

"Guests?" Rei was surprised. But then she took a closer look at the other girl next to the werewolf and saw the leather whip she was holding. And suddenly, she realized…

"You… are the friend Usagi told me about… the Belmont girl…"

"Well, my family name is Osaka, but yes, my father was a Belmont," the red-haired girl nodded. "My name's Naru, and this is my friend Makoto." She gestured at the wolf-girl.

Rei looked at the brunette werewolf sheepishly. "Um, sorry about that… I didn't know…"

"Hey, no big deal," Makoto smirked. "I'm just glad I'm finally able to hang out with some friends while I'm in this form. So, you're Rei, right?"

The gargoyle nodded. "Yes, that's me. Um, pleased to meet you."

"Likewise," Makoto grinned, and they shook hands. Rei then pulled hers back and shook her head.

"That felt so weird…"

"What? Shaking hands?" Makoto wondered. Rei nodded.

"Well, Rei hasn't had many friends before, as you can imagine," Grandfather Hino explained. The elderly priest folded his hands over his robe. "As the only gargoyle in town, she never got the chance to socialize with people her own age."

"Hey, we can change that, no problem," Naru smiled. "Usagi asked us if we wanted to come along and hang out with you guys."

Rei blinked. 'Hang… out? Is that what spending time with friends is called?' she wondered. She then realized something. "Hey, where is Usagi, anyway?"

"She's a bit late," Naru said. She giggled. "It's always the same with her."

Just then, a couple of bats came flying through the main portal. The smaller one simply flew up to one of the arches that connected the many stone pillars of the chapel to each other. The other one – who had a surprisingly familiar tuft of blonde hair on top of her head – fluttered a circle and, in a puff of smoke, transformed into the half-vampiress form of Usagi Tsukino, again dressed in her purple bodysuit and black cloak.

She huffed and puffed. "S-s-sorry I'm late," she stuttered and bowed her head in apology.

"As long as you're here," Makoto said.

Naru shook her head. "What took you so long this time? Did you fall asleep?"

"No way!" Usagi protested. "I'm a nocturnal creature now, after all." She giggled.

"I tell you what happened," Luna grumbled from up above. "She refused to leave her brother's room… I had to knock against the window until she finally noticed me."

"But you don't understand," Usagi wailed. "Shingo needed help against the boss and…"

"What?" Now Rei was alarmed. "Are there monsters in your house?" Did Dracula's servants finally have the idea of threatening her family?

Naru sighed. "You were using his Wii again, weren't you?" she groaned. "Why can't you just buy your own?"

Makoto had to cover her muzzle with her hand so she wouldn't burst out laughing. When she saw Rei's puzzled face, she laughed even harder.

"It's a gaming console," Naru finally explained to the clueless gargoyle. "An electronic game that's played on the TV."

Rei frowned. "You… you mean to tell me you're late because you were playing a GAME?" She sternly looked at the half-vampiress. "Being tardy is not becoming of a princess!"

"Hey, I was a high school girl before finding out that I was a reincarnated princess," Usagi defended herself. "And if you've ever played Metroid before, you'd be addicted, too."

"I don't know about those games, but I do know that we wanted to discuss our next steps regarding our enemies," Rei reminded her. "We have no time to be playing games."

"Now, now, I think that's enough," Grandpa Hino spoke up.

"Fine…" Usagi and Rei sighed at once.

In one of the backrooms, the priest had prepared a few chairs on which they sat down.

"Okay… what do we know about our enemies?" Rei asked.

"Well, the Medusa I fought said something about a Lady Carnilla she served before we defeated her. I did some research in my father's books and found out that Carmilla is a servant of Dracula, very old and powerful. She is one of his personal servants."

"That's right," Luna nodded. She was now sitting on the back of Usagi's chair. "I know her in person, and let me tell you, she is evil. One of Dracula's most devoted followers, she has been revived a couple of times herself so she can serve him. Usually alongside her personal maid, Laura, another vampiress."

"You seem to know quite a bit about those guys," Makoto noted. "Say… how old are you really?"

"To be honest… I lost count of the years," the bat admitted. "But I witnessed Dracula's last defeat, which was 100 years ago. Around that time, his only daughter died…" Luna stopped herself, realizing that she had almost revealed that Usagi herself was Dracula's daughter. The young vampiress still believed that in her old life, she was just the daughter of some noble vampire. If she knew that she was actually the daughter of the lord of evil…

"Okay, we have Carmilla and maybe that servant of hers," Usagi said. "Anyone else we should know about?"

"There's also Ortega," Makoto said with a dark frown. "Apparently he works with the followers of Dracula now… son of a bitch…"

"Anything we should know about him?" Rei asked.

"Well… he's a member of my clan of shapeshifters," Makoto said. The others could tell that she was a bit reluctant to tell them of this. After all, this was the first time she had shared her secret with anyone. "He and I have always been rivals. But at first, it was nothing but a friendly competition… we had the same martial arts master, you see? But then I beat him in front of our master… seems like his pride couldn't cope with the fact that he was beaten by a girl." She angrily growled. "He left the clan for a long time… and when I met him again yesterday, I learned that the pact with Carmilla gave him the ability to freely control his lycanthropic abilities."

"His lyca-what?" Usagi wondered.

Makoto rolled her eyes. "His shapeshifting powers. You see, keeping control over your transformed self is something that only a couple of lycanthropes have managed to achieve. Out of my clan, there has only been one known case in which a man succeeded, by severe training."

"Then you're the first woman who succeeded," Usagi grinned.

"So Ortega simply traded his service for enough power to beat you?" Naru asked.

"Well, yeah, but yesterday, he also asked me for this…" And the she-wolf pulled a golden amulet from her pocket.

"It's shaped like a dog-head," Usagi noticed.

"Actually, that's a jackal," Makoto explained. "And it's a very old artifact from Egypt. I've been told it has some sort of magic powers…"

"Really? Who told you that?" Naru asked.

"The same person who gave it to me. He's an old friend… however, I promised him not to tell anybody who he is. I hope you understand…"

"So it's a he," Usagi snickered. "An old boyfriend?"

Makoto blushed through her fur. "N-n-no, it's n-nothing like that…" she stammered.

"And it's none of our business," Naru said sternly. "But now I'm curious… what kind of magic do you think does this thing have?"

"I'm not sure, but it seems like the bad guys want it badly," Makoto said.

Rei turned to her grandfather. "Grandpa, can you…?"

"Sorry, Rei," the old priest apologized. "While I know a lot about the old ways, I am not a magician. I couldn't tell a magic wand from a conductor's baton."

"That lion guy said they wanted to revive someone, so maybe that's what the amulet can do?" Usagi pondered, tapping her finger against her chin.

"Of course they want to revive someone, and that someone is Dracula," Luna sighed.

"No… he was speaking of someone else," Makoto said. "Some sort of powerful ally, he said… someone who will arrive in Tokyo soon."

"It is a possibility," Naru nodded. "From what I know, Anubis was the Egyptian god of Death, wasn't he?"

That reminded Luna of something. Something she didn't want to tell the girls just yet… But she knew she would have to tell them sooner or later… that the very incarnation of Death itself was Dracula's closest servant and confidant… and that at some point, they might even have to go against him.

"So we have Carmilla, her servant girl, Ortega and possibly some other dead guy they wanna revive… that's four against the four of us. Not too bad, right?" Makoto asked.

"You honestly think Carmilla doesn't have other servants that serve her in addition to those three? Also, don't you believe for a second that all of Dracula's minions are as easily defeated as those two you've already dealt with. In his prime time, Dracula commanded legions of undead and other monsters. Also, as I said, Carmilla is old and powerful… I doubt that any of you girls would last longer than twenty seconds in a fight against her," Luna screeched.

"Right…" Usagi sighed. "There's that, too…"

"But if she is that powerful, and has so many monsters on her side, what chance of winning do we have in the first place?" Naru sighed.

"Now don't you give up that easily," old priest Hino intervened. "I've never met a Belmont in person, but I know a lot about the old legends. And it says that many a Belmont has faced all of Dracula's servants all by himself, armed only with the whips of his forefathers. What makes you think they are any better than you are? On the contrary, you can count yourself lucky that you have so many friends who are willing to help you out."

Naru blushed. "Thanks… but I still have a lot to learn until I can see myself as a true Belmont. I'm still not used to using the whip… it's not like I have a lot of chances to try them out."

"Well, know that you girls can always use this chapel as a meeting place. On the other side, we also have our graveyard, where barely any person ever comes in the night… you can train there whenever you want."

"On a graveyard?" Usagi shivered. "I don't know… that sounds kind of creepy."

"I'd prefer a proper dojo as a training place," Makoto agreed. "But let's not look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Still… isn't this kinda disrespectful towards the dead?" Naru asked.

"I'm sure they won't mind," Grandpa Hino winked. "After all, it's for the greater good."

"Yeah," Rei smirked. "Do you know anyone dead who has ever complained about the living?"

They all had to snicker at that.

* * *

"Dangit! Why do there have to be so many people at the airport?" the mummified girl complained as she and her similarly mummified cat were ducking behind some huge crates.

"It's a wonder we made it this far without being spotted," Artemis sighed. "Thank Bast for that…"

"That goddess of yours better appreciate what I'm going through for her and Isis," Minako grumbled as she crossed her arms. "When I agreed to become a priestess of Isis, I never knew it would include being turned into a walking corpse that somebody wrapped into toilet paper."

"Mind your mouth," Artemis hissed. "Curse or not, mummifying a Pharaoh or high priest is much more than just wrapping his body with some bandages. It's a long and complicated procedure to prepare his spirit for the afterlife and…"

"Yeah yeah, I already heard that," Minako sighed. "Still, she asked me to retrieve some amulet from that sarcophagus. I thought all I had to do was just grab that thing and that's it. But was the thing even there? Nooo, all I found was that spell that trapped me in the stupid coffin and turned me into THIS!!" She gestured at her undead self.

"Calm down, do you think it was any different for me? If I had known the Eye of Anubis was brought to another place, we would have never had to open the sarcophagus…"

* * *

Japan, one week earlier…

"This is wicked cool," Minako said as she looked down at the Egyptian garments she wore, the golden jewelry and the elegant robe. "I look hot… all this and I get awesome super powers, too?"

Isis, mother goddess, protector of children, protector of the dead, and goddess of magic, frowned. "Yes, child," she then said. "By calling upon your goddess, you can ask for her powers to help you if the need arises. But you do understand that being a priestess is a very big responsibility? You have to act in the name of your goddess and give up a lot of your free time in her service and…"

"I don't care! This is too cool to pass up," Minako grinned. "So, when do I begin?"

Isis sighed. "Very well… as your initiation ritus, you need to do your goddess a favor… to be precise, I need you to bring me a special item…"

"That's all?" Minako asked. "Sounds easy enough. And here I thought I had to fight some ancient demons or something like that…"

"I don't think it's going to be that hard," Isis spoke. "But as you are new to this, I will leave a guide and advisor at your side… one of Bast's children. Artemis, step forth!"

A white mau with a golden ankh on his forehead appeared next to the goddess. "Hey there," he said in a human voice. "The name's Artemis."

* * *

Egypt, Valley of the Kings, one week after Minako became a priestess-in-training…

"This is the place?" Minako asked as she climbed down into the dark cave. "Man, you'd think the old pharaohs could find their eternal rest in some other place… why not near a cozy restaurant in Tokyo? I know this cute boy I could have invited…"

"Minako, you've got to learn that serving Isis means putting your personal interests behind her wishes," Artemis scolded her as he followed her through the dark corridor that was sloping downwards from the hidden entrance they had uncovered minutes ago. "And all great kings were laid to rest here."

"Lucky thing I always wanted to visit Egypt…" Minako mumbled as she switched on her flashlight. "So what's this guy called again? Darkoan?"

The white cat sighed. "Akmodan. Akmodan II, to be precise. But unlike many of the other pharaohs before him, he didn't serve the sun god Ra. He pacted with Set, the evil god of chaos. He was a master of a dark arts even before he died. Legends say that his body has risen many times through history, every time to serve evil as he did in his lifetime."

"Well, that's a nice person we're visiting," Minako murmured. "So… there are no chances he'll jump out of his coffin and strangle me?"

"Don't worry, his tomb is empty," Artemis assured her. "His mummified body has been taken from here decades ago. All that remains is his empty sarcophagus, and his treasure."

Minako's eyes began to gleam. "Treasure?" She excitedly began to lick her lips. "Great, then I'm not dependent on Daddy's allowance any longer! Um…" She stopped dead in her tracks. „Say... there's no chance that this tomb, empty or not, has some ancient curse on it, right?"

"Don't be stupid," Artemis huffed. "If there was a curse, it already hit those who entered this tomb the first time it was opened after Akmodan's death. Now, hurry along.

Just a couple of minutes later, they were standing in the tomb of Akmodan II. Next to the entrance, a couple of old candelabras was standing, and after Minako had lit them, the light reflected from the piles of treasure was blinding both girl and cat.

"Wow…" Mina was speechless for a moment.

Artemis leapt up the stone coffin on the other side of the room. "Well, here's what we're here for. The Eye of Anubis has to be in here."

"Um, sure, just a sec… I'll get it, just let me take a couple of coins along…" Minako grinned as she reached for the ancient treasure.

"Minako!" Artemis said sternly. "You want to be a grave robber? Besides, that's illegal! Every piece of gold you take with you has to be taken to a museum, right?"

"What? Awww, you're right. Dammit…" she whined. "But wait… isn't taking away the amulet also stealing?"

"That's different," the mau proclaimed. "Isis wished it. Besides, Akmodan had no right to own it. Set stole it from Anubis after he created it."

"And when can you tell me what's so special about that thing?"

"Isis will tell you, when she feels the need arises. Now come on, I can't lift this coffin lid all by myself."

"All right already, don't get your fur ruffled…" she grumbled. Pushing up her sleeves, she walked up to the ancient stone sarcophagus, grabbed the lid, pushed with all her might… and the heavy lid noisily fell to the floor.

"Good," Artemis nodded. "Now all we have to do is…"

"AAAAAAAHHH!" Minako screamed when all of a sudden, bandages came shooting out of the coffin, wrapping themselves around her wrists. "What's happening here?"

"I don't understand," Artemis gasped. "This isn't supposed to… hey, leggo!" He meowed and hissed angrily when other bandages came out of the coffin, wriggled around like a bunch of tentacles and snatched him up. More bandages wrapped themselves around Minako's upper body and head."

"NO! Lemme go! Lemme mmmmmpphh… mmmmhh…" Unable to say anything, she pushed her feet into the sand with all her might, trying to resist the bandages that pulled her towards the open coffin. But it was no use. She and Artemis disappeared in the coffin, and before they could get out again, the stone lid mysteriously floated up into the air and landed back on the coffin.

And then, everything was silent.

* * *

Tokyo Airport, present time…

Minako was really glad that she fell unconscious shortly after she and Artemis got imprisoned by the magic trap that was put on the empty sarcophagus. Being forced to witness her transformation from human girl to walking corpse might have caused her mind to snap. At least she still was able to use the powers her goddess had granted her.

"No curse, my ass…" she grumbled as she and Artemis used an empty cardboard box to sneak from the airport premises. Whenever somebody came close to them, she would stop and act like she was nothing but an empty box.

"Did I already say I'm sorry?" Artemis groaned. "Make a mistake and you're marked for life…"

"Marked with the body of a walking mummy," Mina growled. "You're lucky Isis told me the curse can be broken with the amulet… now if we only knew where it's hidden. It can be anywhere in town, according to our contact…"

"Are you sure we should trust that man?" Artemis asked. I find it highly suspicious that he knows what we're searching for… and that he's talking to a mummy as you are like it was the most natural thing in the world."

"Well, he was cute, so that was a plus," Minako grinned when she recalled the black-haired man they had met back in Egypt. "Also, Isis told me to trust him."

"I hope she knows what she's doing," Artemis sighed.

"Hey, you're the one who told me to believe in my goddess. Now get moving!"

For some reason, Minako felt the urge of humming the 'Metal Gear Solid' theme as they shuffled along in their cardboard box.

* * *

Meantime, inside the airport …

"Your luggage, please, sir," said the customs officer.

The handsome, black-haired man smiled. "But of course."

A moment later, the officer frowned. "Sir? Can you explain this?" He pointed at the scanner, where one of the man's pieces of luggage was just being pushed through.

The man took a look and smiled. "Ah, yes, I forgot. That sword is an old family heirloom. I always take it along whenever I go on a journey."

"Papers, please," the officer demanded. The other man nodded and handed over his documents.

The customs officer took a look at them. "These seem to be okay." He nodded and returned them to the man. "Thank you, Mr. Arikado. Welcome to Japan!"

After leaving the airport, the handsome stranger let his gaze sweep over the skyline of Tokyo.

'It's been some time since I've been here… well then, let's see if I can find my dear sister.'

And Genya Arikado, also known as Adrian Fahrenheit Tepes, also known as Alucard, smiled.


	7. Graveyard Brawl

Usagi gasped when the werewolf's heavy punch threw her backwards. She had managed to raise her magically strenghtened cape in front of her body to shield herself, but she still had felt the mighty impact of Makoto's punch.

"Whoa, go easy on me, Mako-chan!" she shouted.

"Sorry," the wolf-girl sheepishly chuckled. "Sometimes, I forget my own strength… I don't get many chances to fight in this form, you know?"

The four girls were on the graveyard behind the chapel, training their fighting skills. While Usagi was exchanging blows with Makoto, Rei was sparring with Naru. Grandpa Hino was watching their every move.

"Trying to hit a moving, airborne gargoyle will help you trian your accuracy," Rei told the novice vampire hunter while dodging her whip.

"Well, I still keep missing," Naru panted. "You're a much better fighter than I are."

"A gargoyle has his instincts to help him," Rei explained. "You are a human… but while your instincts are not as advanced as mine, you still have the talent. It's in your blood. With a bit of training, you can become a hunter feared by every vampire."

Naru remembered how easily she had fought the Medusa and nodded. "I guess you're right. I think I'm getting used to this whip. However, I think I also should train working with other weapons. My father's diary told me that the Belmonts usually used an arsenal of secondary weapons, so they wouldn't have to rely on the whip only."

"That reminds me of something," Grandpa Hino suddenly spoke up. "I have something that might be of use for you. Wait a moment…"

He went back inside the chapel. When he came back, he was holding a strange-looking item.

"Isn't that a holy cross?" Naru wondered. "But it's shaped unlike any cross I've seen in churches before…"

"You are right, this cross was specifically made to fight the undead," Hino nodded. "You can throw it like a boomerang, it will return to you once thrown. But it takes some skill to recatch it."

Naru took the cross from his hands. It wasn't too heavy and her slender hands could grip it easily.

"Why don't you try to hit me with it?" Rei suggested from up above. "And don't worry, I can take some damage." She winked.

"Well, okay… here goes!" Naru took aim and threw the cross at the red gargoyle. Rei was able to dodge it, but she miscalculated its flight path and was hit in the back when it returned. With a gasp, she fell down to the grassy ground.

"Ouch…" she muttered while rubbing her backside. "Good throw…"

Naru, on the other hand, had expected the cross to be falling to the ground upon hitting the gargoyle. However, it was still flying back to her, almost catching her by surprise. In the last instant, her hand reached out to grab it out of mid-flight.

Makoto, who had watched the throw with Usagi, whistled. "Good reflexes, girl!"

Naru blushed at the comment. "Thanks!" She walked up to Rei. "Are you okay?"

"Oh, that's nothing," Rei quickly said. "Just a bump…" She stood up from the ground with a wince. "Man, but you've got a strong throw…"

They never noticed how their training was being watched by an attentive pair of eyes. A head with blonde hair, wrapped with bandages, a red bow on top, quickly vanished behind one of the bigger gravestones.

"What do I do?" Minako whispered. "Those girls don't seem too bad, but who knows what they'll do once they see a mummy…"

"Well, not all of them are human," Artemis whispered back. He was crouching right next to her. "Why don't you just talk to them? Are you absolutely sure they have the Eye of Anubis?"

"They do. Isis gift allows me to feel the presence of other gods. And I feel the power of Anubis coming from the werewolf girl. She must have the amulet somewhere on her body. I suppose I could ask, but… I don't like it. As soon as they realize I'm only here because of the amulet, they wouldn't trust me. Who would trust an ugly mummy, anyways?"

"You're not that ugly," Artemis assured her.

"I am. The werewolf and that bat-winged girl are much cooler-looking than me. I'm just a rotten corpse now…" she sniffled.

The others never realized that they weren't alone on the graveyard. "So… what do we do next?" Usagi asked. "A two-on-two match?"

"Wait a minute…" Rei said. "Do you hear that?"

They all listened. "I just hear the wind," Naru shrugged.

"No, Rei's right, there's something coming," Makoto said, her furry ears waggling in the cold night ear. "Sounds like the flapping of wings."

"Gargoyles and werewolves have a much more accurate sense of hearing than most humans," Grandpa Hino stated. "But while I can't hear what you're hearing, my eyes are still sharp." And he gestured up at the clear night sky, where they all could see a dark silhouette approaching them.

"Is that… another gargoyle?" Usagi wondered. She turned to face her red-skinned friend. "Rei-chan, you've invited a friend?"

Rei shook her head. "I've told you I never had any friends… and in all those years, I've never met another gargoyle. So who is that?"

"Well, looks like we're about to find out," Makoto said. "He's heading in our direction."

She was right. The winged figure was quickly coming closer, and soon they all could see that it was indeed a gargoyle, this one male and quite bigger than Rei. His skin was dark blue instead of red and he sported an elongated muzzle, filled with sharp teeth.

Usagi and her friends nervously stepped back when the strange gargoyle landed in front of them. For a moment, the ground seemed to shake underneath his massive frame. He fiercely glared at the small group of girls. "What are you all doing here?" he hissed. "I came flying all this way out here to meet someone, and now all I see is a bunch of kids?"

"Hey, we're not kids! That's rude!" Usagi shouted, feeling offended.

"Prin… Usagi, let me handle this," Rei said. She stepped forth. "What is your name? What clan do you belong to?"

"Well, hellooooo there," the male gargoyle sneered, licking his lips. "I didn't even see you over there, sweetcheeks. Tell me, what's a young hottie like you doing in the company of lowly humans and half-breeds?"

"We're standing right here, you know?" Usagi grumbled. She disliked this guy more and more by the minute.

Rei narrowed her eyes. "Stop insulting my friends and answer my question! I learned all about the ancient gargoyle traditions, it is customary to state your name and clan upon meeting another gargoyle. So who are you?"

"You can call me Gaibon," the male smiled as he tried to grab Rei's hand. "And what's your name, cutie?"

Rei pulled back her hand. "I am Rei. I am of the Firebrand clan. And you?"

"Don't belong to no clan no more," Gaibon shrugged. "Gives you nothing but trouble. I'm an independent gargoyle…"

"He must be an outcast," Rei explained to her friends, her gaze full of distaste. "An outsider who doesn't follow the code of honor like most gargoyle clans do."

"But what's he doing here?" Naru wondered. "Is he working for Carmilla?"

"That stuck-up broad?" Gaibon huffed. "As if! That vampire bitch can do nothing but command you around… my own employer is nowhere as strict as she is. Gives you good pay, too," he snickered.

"So, who is he, then?" Naru asked.

"I don't have to tell you anything, human!" he growled. "The only reason why I haven't mauled you yet is that I am in the company of a lady." And he gave Rei a short bow.

"Sorry, not interested," Rei darkly said. "And if you don't want to tell us, I advise you go someplace else. This graveyard and chapel are sacred places. We don't want any trouble here."

"Tough luck, sweetcheeks," Gaibon smiled. "But I'm supposed to meet a buddy of mine on this graveyard tonight… how should we know that this is the meeting place of 'Girl Monsters In-Training Inc.'?" He laughed at his little joke.

"Well, we don't like you, so get lost!" Usagi commanded. For a moment, she felt like the princess in her was coming to the surface. She LOVED giving others commands.

The male gargoyle didn't seem to be impressed by her order, though. "Sorry, no can do. And I don't like that tone you're giving me, half-breed." He angrily flexed his muscles.

"Are we supposed to be scared of you?" Naru asked, her hand slowly moving towards the handle of her whip.

"Don't get too cocky, little girl," Gaibon hissed. "My buddy will be here any minute… ah, there he is now!"

The sudden rattling of bones made them all jump in surprise. Another figure came stepping through the gravestones. It was a skeletal figure, made of nothing but bones. It resembled a human skeleton, even though it had a long tail and a head resembling that of a pterodactyl. In its bony hands, it was clutching a long spear.

"Slogra, where have you been?" Gaibon asked the newcomer. "Never mind, now that you're here, you can help me teach those brats a lesson."

"Hmmm… sounds like fun," the bone creature cackled. He twirled his spear around as he and Gaibon began to slowly circle the four girls."

"Two on four… and you think you can win?" Makoto asked as she raised her fists.

"Fools!" Solgra shouted. "We have eons of experience on our side! I could easily deal with a dozen of you all by myself!"

"Enough talk…" Gaibon hissed. "Let's show them who's boss…"

And together, the duo attacked. Gaibon flapped his wings as he leapt at Naru, while Slogra thrusted his spear in Makoto's direction. Naru dodged the attack with a skilled backflip and Makoto tried kicking Slogra's spear out of the creature's bony hands. However, he had a firm grip on his weapon and didn't let go. At least she managed to deflect his attack.

Usagi spread her arms. Her cloak fluttered behind her, once again turning into a flock of black bats, which began to swarm around Gaibon.

"Pesky half-breed," the gargoyle growled. He opened his mouth and spat out a couple of fireballs. Most of the bats were scorched by the fire, only a couple of them managed to give him a few scratches and bites. With his own powerful claws, he took them out.

Makoto snarled and tried to punch Slogra, but the skeleton jumped high into the air. Makoto gasped when he landed directly behind her. Before she could turn around, he smacked the shaft of his weapon into her back, sending her flying to the ground.

"Time to scream, little wolfie," Slogra hissed as he approached the groaning Makoto from behind. He raised his spear for the mortal blow… only to be stopped when a whip wrapped itself around his weapon.

Irritated, he looked back to see Naru behind him. "What do you think you are, a Belmont?" he growled as he tried to free his spear from the whip.

Naru smirked. "Exactly!" She pulled out the cross Grandpa Hino had given her and threw it. As Slogra's spear was stuck, he was unable to defend himself against the holy weapon as it hit his ribcage. With a grunt, he dropped on his left knee, but still held onto his spear. But then the cross came flying back and hit his arms. The impact made him lose his grip on the spear, and the weapon fell down to the ground. Naru quickly picked it up and snapped it in half.

"Not so tough without a weapon, are we?" Makoto grinned as she came back to her feet.

"You think you've won? Think again!" Slogra hissed. Throwing a handful of dirt into Naru, he blinded the vampire hunter in-training for a moment before he turned around and threw his body at Makoto. Makoto gasped as she tried pushing back. 'Damn… he's much stronger than he looks,' she thought. 'This won't be as easy as the fight with Karin…'

Meanwhile, Usagi and the two gargoyles had taken flight and circled each other.

"I hate to injure a beauty such as you are," Gaibon shouted. "But you leave me no choice." He exhaled a couple of times and more fireballs came flying at Rei.

Rei growled and opened her mouth as well, spitting fireballs of her own. As they hit Gaibon's fireballs, they cancelled each other out. Then Usagi came diving down at the male gargoyle from above, trying to attack him with a powerful kick.

"Too slow, half-breed," Gaibon chuckled. He grabbed the incoming vampiress with his hand and swung her around a couple of times, until Usagi felt like puking. Then he let go of her, sending her flying into a surprised Rei. Both the vampire princess and her servant then crashed to the ground, in a heap of arms, legs and wings.

"Usagi… take your foot out of my face."

"Only if you quit hitting me with that tail of yours."

Gaibon chuckled. This was going to be easy. The girls might be more powerful than he had anticipated, but they clearly lacked the experience he and Slogra had gained under the service of their master.

"Now for the finishing blow," he chuckled as he inhaled deeply. He wanted to take them out both at once with an extra large fireball.

"Oh no, you don't!" another voice shouted. And out of nowhere, a bright ball of light came flying in front of Gaibon. It was so bright that he had to close his eyes. "Grraaaaahh! I can't see!" And then something hit his head and he found himself falling down to the ground as well.

When Usagi and Rei managed to untangle themselves, they saw their opponent lying on the ground… and in front of him, a floating girl with long, blonde hair was slowly floating to the ground.

A girl whose body was almost completely wrapped with bandages. Usagi blinked in disbelief, but it was true. The only body parts of the girl that were uncovered were her hands, half of her feet and most of her face. The few patches of skin they could see looked somewhat pale, though. The unknown girl was also wearing strange-looking clothes. The only way Usagi could describe them was a white, skimpy robe that somehow made the girl look exotic… even without the bandages. She was also wearing golden bracelets and a golden necklace.

"I didn't want to show myself," the girl said as her feet touched the ground. "But attacking them while they're helpless? That's more than unfair!"

"You undead bitch…" Gaibon growled. "Wait until I get my claws on you…"

"Hey… you all right?" the bandaged girl asked Usagi and Rei.

"Um… yeah, I guess so," Rei muttered as she came back to her feet.

"We're fine," Usagi smiled. "Thanks for the … who are you?"

"Minako, priestess of Isis, at your service," the blonde mummy winked.

"This isn't over yet! I'll make you bitches pay!" Gaibon yelled. "Solgra, give me a hand here!"

There was no response. "Slogra?" Gaibon nervously asked.

Suddenly, his companion came flying through the air, landing next to him as a pile of bones. Gaibon's eyes widened in disbelief. "WHAT?"

Makoto and Naru came next to their friends. Makoto cracked her knuckles and Naru twirled around her whip.

Rei smirked at the male gargoyle. "Not so cocky anymore, are you?"

Gaibon gritted his teeth. "I'll get you for this some day… pray that our master doesn't learn of this…"

"Yeah, then you'll be sorry," Slogra's skull said as he was lying upside down on the ground.

"Gaibon… Slogra… leave these girls alone for now."

"Did… did you hear that?" Usagi asked. "That voice…"

Naru shivered. "Is it just me, or has it become a lot darker and colder all of a sudden?"

"Look!" Rei shouted as she pointed at another figure that appeared behind Gaibon, floating above a big stone cross.

Luna, who had been crouching on a tree during the whole battle, gasped in surprise. "No… it can't be him…"

Gaibon turned around and dropped to his knee. "Lord Death… we've been awaiting your return. Welcome back…" And he bowed his head. Slogra would have done the same, if his body wasn't reduced to a heap of bones.

"Death?" Naru muttered. Could it be? The figure floating in front of them was wrapped in a dark cloak, sure, and it was holding a large scythe… and Gaibon and Slogra were apparently under his command.

Even Minako felt uneasy in the presence of the cloaked being. As an undead, she could feel the powers of Death, moreso than the others. But for some reason… she didn't feel any danger. Normally, her goddess would always warn her if any imminent danger was nearby. But while the hooded figure was certainly dark and powerful, it certainly wasn't a danger to any of them.

"Leave this place," Death told his two minions in a distorted, raspy voice. "I will meet up with you later."

Gaibon bowed his head again. "As you command, master!" He quickly picked up Solgra's head and gave the girls a final glare. "You haven't seen the last of us!" he shouted, then he took off and flew away.

The dark, robed figure slowly came hovering to the ground. The girls were quite nervous, especially Naru. If this was really Death, the personal servant of Dracula, the same Death that her forefathers had fought…

Grandpa Hino fell down to his knees. "Oh please, ancient one!" he pleaded. "Don't take any of these girls with you."

"Stand up," Death said. "I won't take anyone with me this evening."

Hino looked up in surprise. A pair of pale hands were sticking out of the robe's wide sleeves. However… they were not skeleton hands, but instead slender, human hands. They reached up to the cowl and uncovered the figure's face…

"It's a girl!" Rei gasped in surprise.

"I should have known it looked a bit to small to be Death…" Naru murmured.

Luna looked closely at the cloaked girl's face. "But if she's not Death… then who is she? And why does she have this power?"

"I'm sorry for this," the pale girl smiled. "Those two were looking for my father… he disappeared several years ago."

"Uh, that's all right, I guess," Usagi muttered. "But… who are you?"

"Oh, excuse me. My name is Hotaru Tomoe… and I am the daughter of Death."

Everything was silent for a moment.

"Say WHAT?" Naru shouted.

"Again, I am sorry for this," the young girl said as she slowly turned around. "I must leave now…"

"W-wait!" Usagi spoke up as she took a step forwards.

Hotaru looked over her shoulder and smiled. "We will meet again, daughter of Dracula… farewell!"

Then she slowly walked away, her body slowly turning transparent… until she disappeared.

Usagi didn't know what to say.

'Wait a minute…' she then thought. 'Daughter of Drac…'

"LUNA!" she yelled, so loud that Makoto had to cover her sensitive ears. "Get your ass over here!"

The black bat gulped. She had dreaded this moment…

* * *

Someone else had watched the whole scene. Laura, servant of Carmilla, leaned against the tree she was hiding behind as she pondered this new turn of events. She didn't know if she should be mad at Death's flunkies for confronting the princess and her allies while she was spying on them, but the appearance of Death's daughter… or at least a being with powers similar to Death that claimed to be his daughter… had taken her by surprise. She knew she was supposed to wait for a good opportunity to take the Eye of Anubis from the werewolf girl… but she also knew her mistress would want to hear about this. And then there was the priestess of Isis… did her appearance have anything to do with Akmodan II? She certainly would have to have a word with the old mummy…

But first… she would have to make sure that Gaibon and Slogra wouldn't do anything stupid that could impede their plans. That duo was far too reckless for her taste.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I have to apologize that Ami has yet to make an appearance. I already have plans for her and I wanted her to be in this chapter… but circumstances forced me to change it a bit. I will make sure that she is in one of the next few chapters, I promise.


	8. Bloodlines

Everyone who looked at Mamoru Chiba would see nothing but a regular male high school student, with average grades, physically fit and slightly awkward around girls.

Only his closest friends knew that inside, Mamoru wasn't quite as cool and laidback as he appeared to be. Ever since his parents died in a car accident, he had been forced to live on his own. It had been a hard time, especially the first couple of years.

Mamoru had managed to cope with it until know, but then there were the dreams… bizarre dreams that had begun to haunt him some years after his parents' death. Whatever he could recall after waking up was nothing more than a puzzling assortment of images which hadn't made a lot of sense to him.

But recently, it had become worse. One of his most common visions, a middle-aged man wearing old-fashioned, European clothing, had become more and more frequent and… it had started talking to him. And the last week, the words he had said had been clearer than ever.

"Mamoru," the unknown man said to him… Yes, he spoke directly to Mamoru, He somehow knew that. "The time has come… we don't have much time left. You have to find the heir of Belmont. She will need your help once the time is right…"

He couldn't make heads or tails of it. He talked to one of his teachers about it, who had a degree of philosophy. Unfortunately, the man was unable to help him, as interpretation of dreams wasn't exactly his specialty. He still advised Mamoru not to tell too many people about this, as having such dreams was considered a bad omen among superstitious people.

He confused his closest friends by spending more and more time in the library. He wanted to find out as much as possible about the short images he saw in his dreams… an old, spooky castle… a flock of bats… a strange-looking spear… and of course the man who spoke to him. But all he had been able to find out was that the clothing the man wore was commonly worn in several countries of Europe, at the end of the 19th century.

Mamoru somehow felt that something important was going on, something that he was the center of. It annoyed him to no end that he was unable to figure out the reasons behind this. Focussing on his studies had become increasingly difficult for him, and it showed in his grades. He still wasn't ready to give up yet, so he spent half the week inside the library, trying to learn more about the pictures his dreams were showing him.

It was during this time that he noticed something unusual going on in the library, something that distracted him a bit from his research. Students who commonly visited the library began to spread rumors about supernatural activities that were happening in the building. They were talking of books that disappeared, only to reappear a couple of days later… and sometimes, they reappeared in a completely different part of the library. Also, a couple of boys swore they had seen some of the index cards in the registration office of the library FLOATING AROUND. And somebody apparently had whispered behind his hand of people who had disappeared while visiting the library at night…

One day, as Mamoru was once again doing some research on old castles in Europe, he happened to overhear a conversation between two fellow students at the table next to his.

"You heard about this? Kensuke said that one of his classmates came to the library this other evening – he forgot a book of hers while studying late – and he saw a girl sitting on that table over there, all alone."

"So? What's so weird about that, man?"

"He said…" Here the boy lowered his voice to a whisper so that Mamoru had to listen closely to understand his words. "He said that he was able to see right through her."

The second boy's opened his mouth in awe. "You're not saying…"

"Yes! Our school might have its very own GHOST!"

Mamoru had to snort at that. He knew these boys. They were ready to believe anything, but a couple of strange stories weren't able to convince him that there was a ghost in the library.

Floating books on the other hand…

Mamoru watched in surprise how several books of various size were slowly floating out of between two of the high bookshelves, made a wide turn and disappeared behind another shelf.

For a moment, he believed he was simply overtired and that the dreams were maybe coming to him while he was awake… but when he took a look at the other boys, he saw that they were as astonished as he was.

One of them raised a shaking finger. "Did… did you see that, dude?"

"I told you this place is haunted," his friend gulped. "Let's get out of here…"

The other one nodded, and they left the room faster than Mamoru had ever seen them move.

After they were gone, a soft giggle filled the room.

Mamoru stood up. "Hello? Is anybody there?"

The giggling continued, but the voice begun to sound weaker. Was whoever had been laughing leaving?

Mamoru jumped to his feet, trying to follow the giggling voice. When the giggling stopped, he looked around, hoping to find some clue on where the source of the voice might have disappeared to.

"Over here," an amused voice said from his left. He jolted around, causing another giggle. He quickly followed it… and found himself in one of the farthest corners of the library, an almost empty reading room which was rarely visited by anyone. There was a single bookshelf standing at the other end of the room, opposite of the door, which was only half-filled with books.

On top of the bookshelf, a girl with short, blue hair was sitting, wearing a female version of the school's uniform. She was also transparent… Mamoru was able to see the wall behind her. She was giving off a soft glow of blue light.

"Sorry if I startled you," she said in the same soft voice that had giggled before. "But I wanted to play this little prank on them for several days now." She smirked. "Funny thing… I never even thought of playing pranks on anybody back when I was alive. I suppose it's in the nature of ghosts…"

Mamoru slowly approached the bookshelf and looked up at her. "So you really are…"

"Deceased? Dead? Not among the living?" She shrugged and smiled sadly. "I'm afraid so. You know about how part of the library's north wing collapsed because the beams had become too old and worm-infested?"

Mamoru remembered that incident all to well. Mainly because it had caused the death of a female student who had been studying late at night when it happened. "So you are the girl…?"

"That's right," she nodded. "I am Ami Mizuno. And for some reason, I became a ghost instead of going on to the afterlife."

"So… there IS a heaven and hell?" Mamoru asked, pulling up a chair to sit down. He felt a bit bewildered. Here was a rare chance to speak to someone who already died.

"I don't know," Ami shrugged. "I might have found out if I hadn't become… this!" She gestured down at her transparent body.

"I'm sorry for what happened to you," Mamoru said, hoping he had chosen the right words. What else was he supposed to say? My condolences?

"It's not too bad, I guess," Ami said. "The worst thing about this is that I'm stuck to the place I died in… I can freely roam the library, but never can get out. Could have been worse, I think… at least I have a lot to read." She raised her hand, and one of the books came floating up to her and opened by itself. She sighed. "Too bad I can never make use of anything I learned while I was here…"

Mamoru's eyes went wide. "How did you do that?"

"Oh, that?" She smiled. "That's easy. Something I picked up right after becoming a ghost. I can't touch solid matter of any kind, but I can manipulate it, using… some sort of power." She flexed her hand a bit. "I have no way of describing this, but I guess it's natural to me like breathing is to you."

"Is that all you can do?" Mamoru asked.

"Oh, I'm pretty sure there are a couple of abilities I have yet to discover… I still haven't read all the books the library has about this."

"What… what if I go to the city library for you?" Mamoru suggested. "I can hide some books here for the night so you can read them, and I'll pick them up the next day."

"You'd do that?" Ami asked. "You're the nicest person who spoke to me ever since I died…" She then laughed. "Well, actually, you're the only person who spoke to me."

"You got any friends you'd like to meet? Or family? I can tell them, if you want…"

"No! No, I haven't…" Her voice was souding sad all of a sudden. "I never had any good friends… and my parents are already dead."

"Oh… I'm sorry to hear that," Mamoru said, looking at the ghost girl sympathetically. "My parents are dead, too… died in a car crash."

Ami smiled at him. She raised out her hand to his own, and for a moment, it almost felt as if she touched him. "Looks like we've got a few things in common," she said. "Like hanging out in the library by ourselves for a long time…" She snickered at his surprised expression. "Don't be surprised, I've watched you a couple of time," she said. "You always look as if you are searching for something you can't find…"

Mamoru nodded. "You're right, there is something… but I'm not sure I want to talk about it."

"Well, okay, but if you need someone to talk to… you know where to find me."

He smiled back at her. "I think I'd like that." He then looked at his watch. "Oh man, this late already? I need to go Ami… don't worry, I'll be back."

The ghost-girl laughed at him. "I'm not going anywhere, so take your time."

They gave each other another nod, then he left the room. She floated back up to sit on the bookshelf and leaned back against the wall.

'He's cute,' she thought. 'Not the kind of boy I'd want to be my boyfriend, but cute nonetheless. And seems pretty nice. Maybe ghosts can have friends after all…'

* * *

Over the next few days, Mamoru was still a frequent visitor to the library… not because of his research, but instead to visit the friendly ghost. Quite often he brought her books that were not available in the library, and in return, she helped him with his studies. More importantly: She gave him some distraction from his disconcerting dreams. Maybe Mamoru just imagined it, but it seemed to him as if the dreams were coming quite less frequent than before he met Ami for the first time.

Sometimes, they would just sit and talk. She told him about her former life and he told her about his dreams.

"Hmmm… did that man ever say anything else?" she asked one day when they were once again sitting in the backroom of the library.

Mamoru shook his head. "No, it's always the same, then his image vanishes… and I usually wake up after that."

"Have you ever tried talking to him?"

That question took Mamoru by surprise. "How would that work? It's just a dream!"

"So? Some people say dreams are just an extension of our consciousness. I've read reports from people who managed to affect their own dreams by training their concentration."

"I don't know… even if I could do that, it wouldn't mean anything. It's not as if I'm really contecting a real life person."

"But what if somebody does try to contact you this way?" Ami asked.

He thought about it for a moment, then he shook his head. "No, just no! Sorry, but I just don't believe in stuff like that."

"Just as you never believed in ghosts?" She winked at him. "Believe it or not, there are more things on Earth than mankind can ever explain. Am I not proof? I always tried to analyze everything back when I was alive, but now I know there's far more out there than the human mind can comprehend."

Mamoru scratched his head. "Well… I don't know… I guess I'll need to think about it."

* * *

When Mamoru walked back home to his apartment, he was in deep thought. Ami's words made him see his dreams from a completely different angle. What if there WAS a reason behind this? What if he could find out more? And most importantly: Did he even want to find out?

"Mamoru Chiba?"

Mamoru almost didn't notice where he was walking. He almost had bumped into a dark-haired man who might have been called handsome by his female schoolmates. He was wearing an expensive suit and carried a large suitcase and a long, wooden box. "Um, yes? Can I help you?"

"Excuse me… my name is Genya Arikado. We haven't met before, but there is a matter of upmost importance that we need to discuss."

Mamoru blinked in surprise. He was being addressed by a man he had never seen before in his life and who wanted to talk to him because of something really important? "Eh… can't that wait until tomorrow? It's late and I'm kind of tired…"

"I am afraid we don't have that much time," the strange Mr. Arikado said. "They are looking for you."

"They? What do you mean? Who are you? And who are you talking about?"

Arikado looked around like a chased man, then he opened his suitcase and pulled something out, something long and thin. It almost looked like a walking stick. "It can't be helped… here, take it!"

"What's this?" Mamoru asked in surprise. The stick was dark red and artistically crafted. He didn't have to be an expert to see that this item must be worth quite a lot of money.

"Your grandfather entrusted me with this before he died. I swore to return it to your family as soon as it was needed. Now is the time. I can't explain… Just keep it with you all the time, and it will protect you. Never give it away and make sure you don't lose it!"

"Wait a minute! You can't just…"

"They're close. I can sense them… quick, go that way! I will try to get their attention. With some luck, they won't find you yet…"

"Huh? What are you saying? Who wants to find me?"

But Arikado had already closed his suitcase and was running down the street. Nervously, Mamoru looked around, but was unable to see any other person. He then looked down at the red shaft in his hand.

"Well, that was weird…"

* * *

"And he didn't even tell you what this thing is for?" Ami wondered. It was the next day and Mamoru had brought the strange rod to the library. As Arikado had told him, he had never left it behind ever since he had given it to him.

Mamoru shook his head. "No. I never knew my grandfather owned anything like that… to be honest, I never met him." He looked down at the rod in his hands. "I'm sure he's talking of my grandfather on my mother's side… I've never heard her talking much about her family, except that she has Spanish ancestors."

"I wonder…" Ami murmured, floating slowly around in circles while tapping her finger against her ghostly chin. "A Spanish lineage… and the man in your dreams wears European clothing…"

"Excuse me, but could you not do that…" Mamoru murmured. He had to twist his head to keep up with Ami's movements. She stopped in mid-air and giggled.

"Oh, I'm sorry… I tend to do that when I'm thinking. But don't you think it's a strange coincidence?"

"I'd rather know who this guy was… and who he meant when he said that somebody's after me," Mamoru muttered. He breathed hard and put the stick on the table. The idea of being chased by an unknown enemy wasn't exactly pleasant, no matter if it sounded like something right out of a detective novel.

"Well, I know for one thing that this rod looks quite beautiful," Ami smiled, using her powers to levitate the rod in front of her. "And for some reason… it looks familiar."

"What, you've seen it in a book before?" Mamoru asked.

Ami shook her head. "Not in a book… but these decorations do look like I know them. And this strange feeling it's giving me…"

"Feeling?" Mamoru frowned.

"I told you these things are hard to describe. Well… I can somehow tell that there's something special about this thing. And something within me feels there's a connection between it and you… and me… and… somebody else."

"You'll have to excuse me if I say that this sounds kind of vague."

"Hey, I'm still new at this, okay? But maybe we can…" She stopped in mid-sentence. Mamoru also looked up.

A man had entered the room. Usually, no one ever came into this backroom, so they could talk to each other in peace and quiet… but this man's gaze wandered right over to Ami, as soon as he came in.

Mamoru's first thought was: 'Oh crud! How am I gonna explain this?' His second thought was: 'What's a guy like that doing in a high school library?'

The man was large and muscular, his dark skin contrasted with his unruly, sandy blonde hair. He wore nothing but some torn pants and a leather vest. And the strangest thing of all: He didn't seem to be disturbed at all by Ami's appearance. He held out his right hand in a demanding gesture.

"Let's make this easy for everyone. Give me that thing, spook, and I won't have to hurt your boyfriend."

Ami blushed as good as a ghost could. "H-he's not my boyfriend!" she squeaked.

"Whatever. He's coming with me… and you give me that stick, if you don't want to make me mad."

"I'm not going anywhere with you," Mamoru shouted. He reached into his school bag and pulled out his cellphone. "Leave or I'll call the police."

The man grinned. "Cute," he snorted. Then, his hand shot out in a speed that belied his massive frame and snatched the phone out of Mamoru's hand. One squeeze of his bear-like hand, and the phone was nothing more than a twisted pile of electronic garbage. "You were saying?" the man snickered.

Then he grunted when a chair was flung at his head. With a snarl, he glared at Ami, who used her ghost powers to throw books and furniture at the brute.

"Leave him alone! I can keep this up all day and you can't hurt me! So go away!" she shouted.

"Annoying little pest…" he grunted. Then he smirked. "Good thing the vampire bitch gave me something just in case something like this would happen."

He reached into his pocket and took out a large crystal that looked like a flame was burning within. With one swift move, the man threw the crystal at Ami… and just before it hit her, it cracked apart, a huge plume of fire came bursting forth and engulfed her. Ami cried out… she hadn't felt any pain ever since she died, but this was almost enough to make her pass out. With a soft groan, she drifted down to the floor.

"A magical flame crystal," the brutish man laughed. "Hurts even spirits like you. Now, little man, I don't have all day, and my employers are waiting… so if you would just be a good boy and come along nice and easy…"

Mamoru looked at the rod, which had clattered to the floor when Ami was hit by the fire. Arikado had told him that it would protect him, but… would it really work? And could he make it to the item in time before the muscular man reached him?

Before he could make up his mind, someone else entered the room. It was Arikado, holding the same wooden box he had with him the evening before. "Surrender, lycanthrope!" he commanded and opened the box, revealing a long sword, which he took in his hand. "I can't let you or Carmilla get your hands on the spear, Ortega… or the boy!"

Ortega growled in a voice that seemed to be more guttural than before. "Alucard…" he snarled. "You just had to show your pretty face sooner or later. But it won't be as pretty anymore in a couple of minutes." And with a roar, he transformed in a fearsome half-lion form.

Arikado met the lycanthrope with his sword. Mamoru watched them with awe as they exchanged sword strikes and claw swipes in a horrific dance of life and death.

"Grab the spear, Mamoru!" Arikado yelled while dodging a powerful blow of Ortega. "It will protect you!"

His words confused Mamoru even more. Spear? What spear? Then his gaze fell upon the red rod. He slowly approached it. Could it be…?

He picked it up… and gasped when it lit up in a red light. In a flash, the rod changed shape, turning into a long spear with a sharp, masterfully crafted tip. The Alucard Spear had felt that its current master was in danger and took on its true form.

While Mamoru was still astonished at the sudden change of the weapon, he didn't notice that Ortega had shoved Arikado backwards and used the chance to leap at the seemingly defenseless boy. "Carmilla never said she needed you alive!" he roared and prepared to sink his fangs into the human boy's flesh…

But then, without any warning, a huge icicle came bursting from the ground, blocking his path. Ortega's eyes widened before he crashed into the icy obstacle. In a shower of icy sparks, he stumbled to the ground. Shards of ice were biting into his skin.

Mamoru looked up to see Ami floating next to him. Her right hand was outstretched and was glowing in a bright light. She panted heavily.

"How… how did you…?"

"I… I don't know," Ami muttered. "I… I just did."

"The power of the Belnades clan," Arikado commented. "Intriguing… I never expected to find a surviving descendent of Sypha in this country." He then shook his head. "Survive, what am I talking about? She's a ghost…"

Ortega climbed back to his feet, his fists trembling with fury. "Don't you think this is over, you…"

"On the contrary, Ortega!" Arikado said, pointing the tip of his sword at the lion-man's neck. "This battle ends right now!"

Seeing that he was outnumbered yet again, Ortega gave off a snarl of frustration and turned around, leaping out of the next window.

Arikado lowered his blade. "Well, now that this is taken care of… I think there are a lot of things the three of us should talk about."

"I don't understand at all…" Mamoru blurted out. "Where did you come from? What is this spear? And how is Ami able to do what she just did?"

"It's because you two belong to two century-old families, two of the families that have always helped the Belmonts in their battles against the forces of darkness. Ami is a Belnades… a bloodline that always had great magical powers. And Mamoru is a Lecarde… the only family that is allowed to own my very own creation… the Alucard Spear!"

"The… the Belmonts?" Mamoru stuttered. He quickly looked at Ami, only to see that she was as bewildered as he was. "Then… my dream… it's all true?"

"Oh, it most certainly is true," Arikado said. "As I said, we have a lot to discuss. First of all, let me properly introduce myself… as you might have heard, my true name is Alucard… and I am the son of Count Dracula."

Mamoru and Ami exchanged another astonished look.

"Well, now I know there are far more amazing things out there than just ghosts," Mamoru said.


	9. Symphony of the Night

„So... a priestess of Isis, huh?" Makoto asked while she, Naru, Rei and Minako were talking with each other in a quiet corner of the chapel, while Usagi had taken Luna in one of the back rooms to 'get some answers', as she put it.

"Um… that's right," Minako said, then they all had to cover their ears when they heard Usagi yelling: "I DON'T GIVE A CRAP ABOUT THAT, LUNA!"

Minako used a finger to rub her ear… one of the body parts that was still quite intact. "Is she always like this?" she wondered.

"Not usually," Naru said, shaking her head. "But you've got to admit that it doesn't happen every day you find out you're Dracula's reincarnated daughter."

"Not more often than a girl finds herself transformed into a walking mummy, I guess," Minako replied.

"Hmm, good point," Naru said. "I admit I'm curious… how does that feel?"

"You don't want to find out," Artemis shuddered. He was sitting at Minako's feet. "Every second you're afraid that your tail might fall off…"

"Artemis…" Minako said with a sigh. "They don't have tails."

"Oops, that's right," the mummified cat said with a sheepish grin.

"But basically, he's right," Minako sighed. "On top of that, your sense of smell and taste is gone and you've got to deal with THESE!" She grimaced as she pulled a squirming maggot out of her hip.

Makoto made a face. "Okay… I'll never complain about my lycanthropy ever again." Then she got serious again and pulled out the Eye of Anubis. "So… you're saying that this will turn you back into a human?"

"That's what Isis told me," Minako nodded. "I need to perform a special ritual, and I'm back with the living."

"Well, I was told not to give this to strangers…" Makoto began.

"Oh, pleeeaaaasse!" Minako begged as she fell on her knees in front of the werewolf and gave her the puppy-dog eyes… a remarkable sight when it's done by a mummy.

"Okay, whatever, I don't mind, just stop the begging," Makoto sweatdropped.

"If there's one thing she's got at, it's whining," Artemis grumbled.

Mina just smirked while standing up. "Whining, begging and groveling are a priestess' main chores!" Artemis wasn't the only one to facepalm.

"Anyways, I think we should ask Usagi if she's okay with this," Makoto then said. "After all, she's the princess, isn't she?"

"I'm sure she won't mind helping someone in need," Rei said, smiling at Minako.

Makoto shrugged and gave the amulet to the young mummy. "Fine by me…"

Minako accepted it and cluthed it to her chest.

'To be human again…' she thought, closing her eyes. 'Only to be human again…'

After a moment, she opened her eyes again and looked down at herself. "What the… I'm still a mummy? Artemis! Why doesn't it work?"

"Hey, I'm just the advisor," he defended himself. "I'm not a specialist of ancient artifact magic. Why don't you just ask Isis?"

"You bet your whiskers I'm gonna do that!" Minako shouted. Closing her eyes again, she tried to make contact with her goddess.

She then opened them again and gasped. "What the crap?"

"Minako, a priestess of Isis does not swear. And what's wrong now?"

Minako was furious. She angrily cluthed the amulet in her hands and shook it. "She… she just told me this piece of junk only works in the presence of Akmodan's sarcophagus! AAAAAAARRRRRRGGHHH! Couldn't she have told me earlier?"

"Oh boy," Naru sighed. "I feel sorry for you, Minako."

"Wait, does that mean you have to go back all the way to Egypt?" Makoto wondered.

"Not exactly…" Minako sighed.

* * *

"I can't believe you, Luna," Usagi shouted with exasperation as she paced up and down Hino's office. The elderly priest had tactfully allowed them to use the room to discuss things in peace, as this was something between the neo-vampiress and her bat familiar. Even though, Luna believed it was a quite moot gesture, as probably everything the vampire princess shouted must be heard outside as well.

"I didn't want to keep it a secret, Usagi," Luna defended herself. "It was just not the right time."

"Not the right time? When is the right time? Who decides when the right time is? You? Luna, I trusted you and now you've tricked me like this."

"Well, I wouldn't call it tricking you," Luna said nervously while crouching on Hino's desk, using her wings to support her small frame in an upright position. "Just denying you information…"

"Denying information? Luna, this is about my past! I mean, I know that was just the past me, but still… daughter of DRACULA? I mean, THE Dracula? And you thought it was a good idea not to tell me?"

"What would you have done, had I told you earlier?" Luna asked back. "Face it, it was hard enough to convince you that you're a true vampire. And then, you had all the troubles of getting used to that fact. How can I know how you'd handle it?"

"So you decided to wait until I found out by myself?" Usagi replied with a deep frown. "Yeah, smooth move there, Luna."

"How was I supposed to know that Death's child would come here this night…" the bat mumbled. "How could I even know that he HAD a child? How did he do that, anyway? And how does she know you're…"

"Don't change the subject, Luna, I'm still pissed at you!"

Luna flinched under the angry glare of her princess. "Well, I can tell this experience changed you," she muttered. "I've never believed you would react like this."

"Being turned into a vampire without being asked and finding out that you're the daughter of Dracula does things to you," Usagi remarked. "Now, tell me everything!"

"Everything?" Luna blinked. "Everything what?"

"Everything there is to know. How come I'm Dracula's daughter? What happened in the past? Has my former self always been fighting against his minions? Or has she been one of his bloodthirsty little puppets?"

"It wasn't like that," Luna sighed. "All right, I guess you deserve to know the truth… Where do I begin? Okay, it happened some time before 1450… Count Dracula met a human woman called Lisa and fell in love with her. Don't give me that surprised looks, vampires do have feelings. Well, due to the union between the two, Lisa gave birth to a couple of twins, a boy and a girl. The boy they called Adrian, the girl they called Serena. The two children loved their mother very much and grew up under her care.

However, Lisa was also a healer and knew a lot about medicine and herbs. As you might know, knowledge of these things quickly made you suspicious to the other people in those days. Lisa was accused of witchcraft and sentenced to be burnt at the stake. Adrian and Serena tried to save her, but she asked them to flee, so they wouldn't share her fate. In the end, before she died, she asked them: 'Do not hate humans. If you cannot live with them, then at least do them no harm. For theirs is already a hard lot." Before she died, she also asked them to tell their father that she'd always love him.

Naturally, the children were not too fond of their father for what he did to humanity. They began to fight against everything the vampire lord stood for. Adrian never believed one moment that his father would ever change his mind, but Serena was different. She knew she and her brother were not like normal humans, since their father was not human, but she also wanted to believe that he was not beyond redemption. While Adrian openly fought Dracula's minions, Serena peacefully went to his castle to speak to him. As Dracula always had a soft spot for his daughter, he ordered his minions not to harm her as she made her way to his throne room.

Standing in front of him, she asked him why he did the things he did. He replied to her: "My daughter, humanity is greedy. Look at them… do they not just look at their own benefits in life? Are they not egoistical? Do they not hate everything that is different from them? Just look at what they did to your poor mother."

"Mother was human, too," Serena reminded him. "Did you hate her, too?"

Dracula's face grew solemn at that. "Your mother was different," he said. "As a whole, humanity has failed. They are a plague that taints this world. I want to rid the world of this plague. You can help me with this, sweet Serena… or you can help your brother who decided to defy me. What will it be?"

Unable to choose between her brother and her father, Serena left with teary eyes, never giving Dracula a response. Years later, in 1476, Adrian helped a group of adventurers who wanted to destroy Dracula in his castle. Serena didn't want her brother and father to fight, but she was unable to prevent it from happening.

Dracula came back to life several times after that. Every time, a member of the Belmont clan would take up the whip 'Vampire Killer' and confront the count in his castle. Due to their vampiric heritage, Adrian and Serena lived through all these decades and Adrian helped his father's foes on more than one occasion. Serena met her father several times again, but she never again asked him to change his mind.

In 1797, something unexpected happened upon Dracula's next return. There apparently was no Belmont available, so Adrian decided for himself that he had to travel to his father's castle to deal with him. Serena was determined to stop the battle between Dracula and humanity all and for once and she too, entered the castle. She met a young woman there, who was the decendent of one of the vampire hunters who once fought at her brother's side. Her name was Maria Renard. Maria was shocked to find out that Serena was Dracula's daughter, but when she learned that she only wanted for this war to end, Maria decided to help her. She had come to the castle to search for her friend, Richter Belmont, who had disappeared after he had defeated Dracula several years ago. They helped Adrian as he freed Richter, who had been controlled by dracula's evil servant Shaft, and then the siblings went to confront Dracula.

Serena tried one last time to make her father listen to reason. Dracula understood that she wished nothing more but for this conflict to end. Still, he told her that he was unable to change his mind. "Humanity is far too cruel for either of you to understand," he told his children. "Even though you defend them, I cannot forgive them for what they did." Adrian, seeing that his father would never change, drew his blade to attack Dracula. Serena, however, was desperate. She feared that her heart would break, would she be forced to see her father destroyed one more time. So in the last second, she threw herself in front of her father, only top be impaled by Adrian's sword. Before she died, her final words to her brother were: "I have no regrets…"

Luna closed her eyes as she finished the story. "That is the story of the life of Serena Fahrenheit Tepes, daughter of Dracula, your former self. I hope you are happy now."

Usagi wasn't happy. She had tears in her eyes. "That's so sad," she sniffled as she sat down on a chair. "Poor Serena…"

"There was a prophecy that Dracula's daughter will be reborn," Luna explained. "Carmilla believes that she might be able to turn you over to the side of evil. She wants you as a secret weapon against Alu… Adrian, should he decide to interfere. And against the Belmonts and everyone else who defies Dracula upon his return. Once I found out about this, I decided that the only way of making sure that never happens was to awaken your latent vampire blood."

Usagi looked at the bat. "Did you know her… Serena?" she softly asked.

Luna hesitated, but then she nodded. "Most of the powerful vampires have familiars… lesser beings that nevertheless have enough power to assist them. I am a bat familiar… in birth, I was a normal bat. Dracula himself granted me sentience and made me a present for his daughter…" She sighed. "I usually don't like talking about my past much…"

"I understand," Usagi nodded. "But Luna… you could have told me sooner. I would have understood…"

"Thank you, Usagi… but I was uncertain how to act. I made a mistake back when Serena was alive… I never should have allowed her to enter Dracula's room with her brother. I might have prevented… I… I didn't want to make the same mistake again…"

Usagi gently stroked her familiar's fur. "Well, if she's anything like me, there was no chance she would have listened to you anyway, right?" She smirked.

* * *

Shortly after that, they left the office and went back to their friends. "Sorry to keep you guys waiting," Usagi said.

Naru walked up to her friend. "Will you be okay?" she asked.

"I'll be fine," Usagi told her friend with a grateful smile. "And I think I've come to terms with who I am."

"I hope you're not too tired… Minako just told us something disconcerting," Makoto said. "According to her goddess, Akmodan II had two sarcophagi in his crypt… one to keep his body and another one… the one that transformed Minako."

"According to Isis, Akmodan's main sarcophagus has already been taken to Japan," Artemis added. "And now it's being kept in the museum."

"And that's not the worst part," Minako gulped. "She said that Akmodan… might rise from his coffin to serve Dracula again."

They all looked at the Eye of Anubis in Mina's bandaged hands.

"I guess now we know why they want the amulet," Luna sighed.

* * *

Author's Notes:

So now Usagi knows she had/has a brother and we know why her former self died. And we learn why Carmilla is after the Eye of Anubis.

Exciting, isn't it?

But there's more... who gave the amulet to Makoto in the first place? Who told Minako that the amulet is in Japan? Why was there a second sarcophagus? And what are Alucards plans with Mamoru and Ami? Will Hotaru ever find her father? And why am I asking all these questions?

Find out in the next thrilling episode of Dracula's Daughter.

(Or not.)


	10. The harpy and the merwoman

One of the two men carrying the sarcophagus pushed the door behind him open using his elbow. Together with his colleague, they dragged the heavy stone coffin in the middle of the room, until it stood directly next to a second sarcophagus, which looked similar to the other one, but was slightly bigger. Also, the face on the engraved surface was male, while the on the one the two securitymen just brought in, was a female.

With a heavy sigh, they dropped their load to the ground. The impact made the floor beneath their feet vibrate.

"Shouldn't we be, I dunno, a bit more careful with that stuff?" one of the men then asked his older colleague.

"It's made of stone, you think it's gonna break?" the other security guard chuckled. "Anyways, I wonder why the curator insisted on having another of these coffins in here. Wasn't the first one enough?"

"Who cares? As long as we're paid…"

"You're right about that." They both chuckled and turned around to leave.

A golden glow was suddenly emitted from the sarcophagus with the male face on its lid. A low, rumbling voice echoed through the room:

"For bringing me the coffin of my bride… I will grant you eternal life in my service!"

The two guards stopped and looked at each other. "Did… did you hear that?" the younger one muttered. They turned around and saw how the lid of the coffin was slowly raised by an invisible force. The golden glow was becoming stronger.

The older security guard gulped. "I dunno about you, but I'm not getting paid enough for this… I'm leaving!" And he turned around on his heels and ran.

He didn't get far.

Bandages came shooting out of the coffin and wrapped themselves around the man's upper body. They were old and dusty, but surprisingly firm. The guard let out a scream, which turned into a gurgle as another bandage wrapped itself around his neck. He then was lifted off his feet and dragged back towards the sarcophagus.

The second guard was stunned by the horrific scene displayed in front of him, but when another bundle of bandages came shooting at him, he gave off a yell and tried to leap away. The bandages still grabbed him, and within seconds, both men were pulled close to the sarcophagus.

Flailing around, they tried to escape, but it was to no avail. Their screams became shriller as their forms grew thin and bony. As their life forces were drained by the horror within the coffin, all the organic tissue of their bodies withered away until only their skeletons were left. Then, the bandages retracted back into the coffin and the lid closed itself.

For a moment, everything was silent. Then, with jerky movements, the two skeletons climbed to their feet. Within their eye sockets, an unholy light was glowing. Again, the rumbling voice filled the room:

"Gather more servants… and bring me the Eye of Anubis, so I can live again!"

The skeletons nodded and left the room, searching the whole museum for other humans their master could turn into mindless slaves. It wasn't long until all of the museum staff was screaming in terror as they tried to get away from the undead horrors.

In the central room of the museum, the two coffins were still standing. And within one of them, an ancient king waited for his chance to walk the world again… but this time around, not alone.

"Soon, my queen…" Akmodan II spoke from within his coffin. "Soon, you will be at my side… and together, we will help Dracula spread the evil across the world."

* * *

At the airport, three teenage girls were standing at the information booth, while a fourth girl, who for some reason was dressed in a fedora, a wide trenchcoat and sunglasses, was waiting for them aloof.

"So the delivery from Cairo was already brought to the museum two hours ago?" Naru asked the young airport clerk. "I see… thank you for your time."

They walked back to where Minako was waiting. Makoto (who, like Usagi, was back in her human form) frowned at the blonde mummy's choice of clothing.

"What's with the hat?"

"Hey, in the old movies, they always wear a disguise like this," Minako defended herself. "Ya can't beat the classics."

"It's better than having to explain why there's a mummy walking around in broad daylight," Naru said. "Besides, I like the hat."

"Too bad Rei couldn't come," Usagi sighed.

"Well yeah, she does have certain problems with the sun," Makoto shrugged. "At least she only turns into stone. Be happy that you're not like a full vampire that turns into dust in the sunlight."

"But now what do we do?" Minako whined. "This is bad… now I've got the amulet, but not the coffin. "How does the old saying go: When it snows, it hails."

"Um, I think it's 'When it rains, it pours', but never mind that now," Naru spoke up. "They're bringing your coffin to the museum, where Akmodans original coffin is. Who knows what will happen when they are brought together."

"What's the worst that could happen?" Usagi shrugged. "I mean, they're just stone coffins, right?"

Naru shivered. "Usagi… I've read enough about this. Two egyptian coffins that are full of old magical energy? That's just asking for trouble. Don't forget that Mina's sarcophagus transformed her… and I don't even want to mention the evil pharaoh resting in the other one."

Usagi swallowed. "That doesn't sound good. In that case, we better head over there quickly."

"Yeah, before Dracula's goons get there before us," Makoto nodded.

"They still need the amulet to ressurect Akmodan, remember?" Usagi told her.

"Yes. But they know we have it. And if they know about Mina, they probably also know we're coming, so they might prepare a trap for us. So we better hurry."

The other girls nodded.

* * *

The situation was worse than either of them could have panticipated. All around the museum, police cars and barriers were standing, the policemen using megaphones to control the crowd of onlookers. The building itself was sparkling with a strange energy, while tendrils of light crackled over its surface.

"Please remain calm," the police told the crowd. "We ask you to go back home and leave this problem to us. We assure you, we've got everything under control."

At that moment, three frantically screaming police officers came running out of the front gate, screaming something about monsters that were chasing them.

Makoto rolled her eyes. "Shows how much the police can do about this," she muttered. "So, what now? Looks like old Akki already has control over the museum… somehow. What's the plan? We just barge in there, braing fangs, blasting spells and cracking whips?"

Minako chuckled from underneath her fedora. "Sounds good to me."

"Don't be silly. That would cause an even bigger panic," Naru frowned.

"I don't know… this seems like a good chance to show everyone that we are NOT the bad guys," Usagi pointed out.

"I think you're going to need more than that to gain everyone's trust in this city, Usagi," Luna sighed from her perch on the vampire princess' shoulder. "I say we wait and try to come up with a plan before we go in there."

"I don't think we've got that much time," Naru said as she gestured over to the museum. "Look!"

The girls looked over to where Naru was pointing and saw how three dark shadows were silently sneaking up behind two police officers that were guarding one of the museum's side entrances. They couldn't quite see what was going on, but what they could see was that the two policemen suddenly fell to the ground… and that one of the attackers had a tail… and a lion's mane.

"Ortega…" Makoto growled. "So they're already here."

"So, no time for plans," Usagi sighed. "Okay… we go after them… without being seen by the crowd."

* * *

The three inhuman shapes slipped into the museum, unseen by any human eye. They closed the door and walked down the dark, empty corridor.

"Those humans won't rise ever again," a sleek, elegant figure smiled as she looked at her green-scaled, claw-tipped hand. "My venom is enough to bring a grown minotaur down."

"I could have done this all by myself," the were-lion next to her grumbled. "I don't know why Carmilla insisted you three come along."

"You're lucky Lady Carmilla gave you permission to come along," the third figure screeched. She almost looked like a normal woman with short, sandy blonde hair, but instead of arms she had big wings with yellow feathers and clawed bird feet. "Not only did you fail to bring her the amulet when she asked you to do it, you also were unable to kill the Lecarde boy."

"Calm down, Haruka dear," the woman with the green scales said to the Harpy in a gentle voice. She looked like any other of the aquatic merman that were in Dracula's service, even though as a female, she looked less bestial and had long, turquoise-colored hair that resembled seaweed. "He's just a brutish man who doesn't know how to express himself except for violence."

"Excuse me for preferring a good battle to all that sneaking around," Ortega grumbled.

"Michiru," the harpy suddenly said. "Something's coming…"

She was right. Of course, Akmodan's servant skeletons had already noticed the intruders and were surrounding them from both sides.

"Leave this to me," the merwoman smiled and stepped forth. "We have come to set free your master, Pharaoh Akmodan II of Egypt. Let us pass!"

The mindless creatures did not respond, but as they were the extended will of their master, they stepped aside when Akmodan recognized his allies. Michiru nodded as she, Haruka and Ortega continued on their way. "There are dark creatures following us that wish to interfere with your master's ressurection. Make sure their way inside is not an easy one."

As they kept walking, Ortega frowned. "What about the ambush we planned? You wanna meet the old mummy without the amulet?"

"I think we should let them have fun with the skeletons first," Michiru smiled.

"They won't stop them for long."

"Of course not, idiot!" Haruka snorted. "But they will wear them down so we can easily finish them off. Use your brain for once… if you got one!"

Ortega gritted his teeth. How dare Carmilla make him work with disrespectful subordinates like this. Who do they think they are, speaking down on him as if he were just a common grunt.

* * *

In the meantime, Usagi and her friends had already made their way inside.

Minako shuddered. "I don't like this… it's so dark in here."

Usagi smiled. "Just the way I like it." Like any vampire, she could see perfectly fine in the dark. By now, she and Makoto had already cast off their human forms just like Minako had cast off her trenchcoat.

Naru tightened her grip on the Vampire Killer. She was anxious, but she also felt some sort of thrill. Her Belmont blood was coming to the surface… she was willingly entering the monster's lair to destroy it, armed with the weapons of her forefathers. This was her purpose, her destiny. When the glowing eyes of the skeletons appeared in the darkness, she felt no fear, only determination. "They're coming…"

"Already saw them some time ago," Usagi smirked at her friend.

"I don't get it," Makoto frowned as she went into a battle stance. "Where did all those skeletons come from?"

"What do you think happened to the people working here?" Minako asked. "And unlike me, those guys have no trace of their old self left. They are just lifeless corpses, animated by magic."

"Good," Naru said. "Then I won't have to feel bad about what I''m going to do…" She suddenly stormed up to one of the skeletons, kicked off its skull, used her whip to reduce another skeleton to a pile of bones, jumped over undead arms that were reaching out for her, threw a couple of daggers while in mid-air (which embedded themselves into the skulls of her attackers) and took out another undead with a diving kick.

Even Makoto had to gape at this display of skill. She whistled. "That… was awesome!"

"Just make sure to leave some for us," Usagi pouted.

"I wouldn't worry about that," Naru said, pointing down the corridor. "More undead freaks coming up at six o'clock."

The newly arrived skeletons didn't waste their time attacking the girls at close range, instead they took some of their own bones and threw them.

"I think I've got a bone to pick with those guys," Minako frowned as she extended a couple of her bandages to pluck some of the thrown projectiles out of the air. She summoned up a couple of balls of light, which she threw at her enemies.

"Well, they surely are making us work to the bone," Makoto growled as she tore into another couple of skeletons with her bare hands.

"Would you stop it with the bone jokes?" Usagi sighed as her bats blasted another incoming undead. "Your humor is as dry as a bone…"

Soon enough, there was no trace left of their attackers but a huge pile of bones.

Naru wiped her hands. "Well, they were just skin and bones…" The others just groaned.

"C'mon, let's hurry," Makoto then said. "I still have a score to settle with Ortega."

Not wanting to be left behind by their werewolf friend, the others hurried after her.

Just a couple of minutes later, they reached the double doors leading to the main exhibition room of the museum, where the two coffins were kept.

Makoto tried to open the doors, but they wouldn't budge. Angrily, she gave them a firm kick, but it was no use.

"Dammit! You think they locked us out?"

"Just leave it to me," Minako said as she raised her hands. "I'll blast it open in no time." Again, she summoned her light orbs.

"I sense the power of Isis…" a rumbling voice came out of nowhere. "So you finally arrived… come in… and bring your servants with you." And the door opened all by itself.

The others all looked at Minako. "Servants?" Usagi frowned. "We're your servants now?"

"H-hey, don't look at me. The door is open, so don't look a gift cow into its mouth," the young mummy stuttered.

Carefully, they entered… and the doors slammed closed behind them. Naru sighed. "Why am I not surprised?"

In the middle of the room, the two sarcophagi were standing, one of them glowing in a golden light. A werewolf, harpy and fish-like woman were standing around them.

"So, you finally made it?" Michiru smirked. "Took you long enough."

"Who the heck are you?" Usagi asked.

"Oh, I'm Michiru and this is Haruka," the merwoman replied, nodding towards the harpy.

"Lady Carmilla sends her regards," Haruka screeched, spreading her wings. "She's afraid she can't come by herself, so she sent us to take care of you annoying interlopers. Well, all except for the princess." She smirked at Usagi. "She's still waiting for the day when you realize that Lord Dracula's way is the only way for creatures such as us."

"She can wait for all eternity, it won't change my mind," Usagi firmly stated.

"Enough!" came the booming voice from Akmodan's sarcophagus. "Bring me the amulet so I can live again!"

"You heard the man, Mako-honey!" Ortega smirked. "Hand it over!"

Makoto bared her teeth. "Why don't you come and get it?"

"Gladly…" her rival growled. With mighty roars, the werewolf and were-lion leapt at each other.

"Finally, some action!" Haruka screeched as she took off into the air. "I take the Belmont!" And she dove at Naru with open claws.

"Wrong choice, monster!" Naru spat as she welcomed the harpy with her whip.

Michiru smiled at Usagi. "If you insist on fighting me, princess, I must warn you: I will not hold back!"

"What are you gonna do, spit on me?" Usagi snickered.

The merwoman giggled. "Good idea!" She inhaled and without a warning, spat a strong current of water out of her mouth. The pressure was so great that it showed Usagi backwards, until her back hit the wall.

"Hey!" she sputtered as she fought against the water stream. "I took a shower this morning, okay?" She turned a small part of her cloak into bats, which flew directly at Michiru.

The aquatic woman merely stretched out her claws and impaled the bats on them. The venom instantly destroyed them. "Don't underestimate me just because I'm out of my native habitat, princess," she smirked.

Meanwhile, Minako was approaching the glowing sarcophagus.

"So, the time has finally come…" came Akmodan's voice through the closed lid. "Tell me, what is your name, young one?"

"I'm Minako," she said, putting her hands on her hips. "You know what, you don't really look so tough in there… So you can speak and make your coffin glow, big deal. All I need are some matches and you're history… again."

"No… I have waited for too long for this day," Akmodan groaned. "You truly are beautiful… and a powerful disciple of Isis. It was only natural that you would be chosen by my second sarcophagus… after all, it was created to obtain the body of my wife."

"Your… what?"

"I never thought the day would come, but I finally found someone worthy enough to stay at my side for all eternity. I welcome you at my side… now leave these unworthy mortals behind and be mine… Minako, my queen!"

Minako made a face. The idea alone was disgusting to her. "Blergh! No way, you creep!"

"You have no choice, you have been chosen… it is your fate. Don't resist me…"

"Yeah, nice try. I only have one reply for guys like you: get lost, jerkface!" And she gave him the middle finger.

"No! I will not be rejected!" Akmodan II shouted, and the glow of his coffin intensified. "You WILL be my queen, by force if necessary!"

A sudden burst of power made Minako stumble backwards. Slowly, th sarcophagus began to float upwards. "Anubis, lord of the death… I summon your power! Come to me and bring my dead body back to the world of the living!"

As Akmodan shouted these words, Makoto suddenly felt a painful, burning sensation coming from her pocket. "OW! What in the world…" She grimaced as the pain forced her to stop her attack on Ortega.

The lion-man grinned as he saw an opening. With one swift move, he brought his massive fist down on Makoto's skull. With a yelp, the wolf-girl went down to the floor. The Eye of Anubis came floating out of her pocket, glowing as brightly as Akmodan's coffin. And then, it slowly began to float towards it.

"Stop the amulet!" Naru shouted as she tried to intercept the floating artifact. But then Haruka came swooping down from above and pressed her body to the floor.

"Naru!" Usagi shouted, while still fighting against Michiru's jet of water. "Dammit… you're getting on my nerves." She pulled her cloak around her body and was suddenly transformed into a cloud of mist.

"What?" Michiru shouted in surprise as she stopped her attack. "Where did she go?"

The mist solidified behind the merwoman's back as Usagi turned back to normal. "Surprise!" she said as she kicked Michiru in the back of her head. The merwoman's eyes rolled up as she passed out and fell down in front of the half-vampiress. "Naru, I'm coming…"

"Don't worry about me! Stop the amulet!" the young vampire hunter shouted.

Usagi looked at the floating amulet, turned her cape back into wings and flew at it at full speed.

"Oh no, you don't…" Ortega grumbled as he body-tackled her from the side. Usagi grunted as she was knocked against Minako's sarcophagus. She pressed her hand against her ribcage. "Damn… that hurt!"

Realizing that it was up to her, Minako tried grabbing the amulet. But for some reason, she couldn't touch it.

"What's wrong, Minako?" Usagi asked. "Grab that thing!"

"I… I can't…" Minako muttered. "I can't touch it… my powers of Isis… Anubis… Anubis won't let me!"

And then it happened. The amulet attached itself to the surface of Akmodan's sarcophagus, the light surrounding it seemed to explode and the lid was violently flung aside. Slowly, the mummified body of Akmodan II rose from inside.

The mummy spread its arms. "I… have come back to LIFE!" he shouted while sparks danced around his hands.

Minako stepped back while Akmodan slowly came out of his coffin. "Now, my queen… come at my side and help me as we bring the glory of Dracula back to this world. Let us cover the world with darkness in the name of Seth!"

Minako glared at him. "I guess my first reply wasn't enough… I said NO!" And with these words, she created a ball of light, bigger than the ones before, and flung it at the undead pharaoh.

An aura of shadow surrounded the mummy-man and he laughed. "Foolish girl… the power of Isis is not enough to break through the might of Seth. Admit defeat and join me, then I'll promise you power you can only dream of."

"Never!" Minako yelled.

Akmodan lowered his arms. "Is that so… well, maybe you still need a bit more time. I will be back once you've realized your destiny." He then chanted some words in the ancient, egyption tongue, and glowing hieroglyphes appeared in the air before Akmodan, Ortega, Haruka and the unconscious form of Michiru.

"Hey, I wasn't done kicking their butts yet!" Haruka protested, but it was too late. Akmodan's magic whisked them away, back to where Carmilla was waiting for them. The sarcophagus of Akmodan disappeared alongside with him… and with it, the Eye of Anubis.

Usagi, Naru, Makoto and Minako were the only ones left in the room. Minako slowly sank down to her knees and hid her face in her hands.

Usagi used the other coffin to push herself back up to her feet. Her ribs still jurt like hell. "Minako…" she softly said as she looked at the distraught mummy.

"No…" Minako whispered. "I was so close…"

* * *

Author's Notes:

Okay, Minako has her coffin back, but now the amulet's gone. Not only that, but Carmilla just gained another, powerful helper... one who wants to make Minako his bride.

Oh, and let's not forget the other two creatures that came with Ortega. Michiru and Haruka... Hmm... I wwonder where I heard those names before...

By the way, Akmodan's words 'I have come back to life' are a reference to the movie 'Night at the Museum 2', where it was spoken by Kahmunrah.


	11. Rei's roommate

After a good day of sleeping, Rei once again left her perch on top of the chapel, came soaring down and entered the church. "Good evening, grandpa," she muttered as she walked past the elderly priest and headed towards her room, which was situated in the back rooms of the church, close to the priest's office.

"Rei… I could use some help getting this coffin down into the crypt…" Hino called after her.

"Later, later," the gargoyle said with a yawn. "Sheesh, can't you wait until I'm wide awake? It's eleven in the evening, way too early if you ask me…" She didn't even take a look at her grandfather and the coffin he was standing next to before she entered her room.

In here, she kept everything she owned. It looked very much like the room of a regular teenage girl, however, she didn't have a bed, naturally. She didn't own a lot of clothes either, but she had a lot of books and magazines, as well as some personal items her parents had left her. In one corner of the room, she even had a desk where she liked to sit and read. And next to it, there was a big mattress on which she liked to lay down and relax.

Right now, there was a blonde mummy girl lying on her mattress, reading one of her books, wearing the baseball cap her grandfather had given her as a present for her last birthday.

Minako cheerfully looked up from the book as the red gargoyle entered. "Yo, bunkmate! You finally awake?"

"What… what are you doing here?" Rei sputtered. "This is my room!"

"Yeah, I know. Don't worry, I'm not sleeping here or anything. Your grandpa was nice enough to offer me your crypt as a resting place. I don't really need to sleep, but I can restore my magic by resting in my coffin."

"That's not what I meant," Rei grumbled. "Those are my books. And that cap you're wearing…"

"Yeah, it's really cool, I know," the mummy smirked. "Suits me, doesn't it? But this book of yours is really boring… you got something else I can read?" And she stood up and walked over to Rei's stash of books and magazines.

"H-hey!" Rei protested.

Minako whistled as she pulled out a shojo manga. "Wow, you collect those? I haven't seen this one before. Can I read it?"

"B-but…" Rei stuttered. "But I…"

"Thanks," Minako grinned before plopping down on the mattress again. "This is a really nice place you have. Looking forward to sharing it with you, girlfriend!"

Unable to utter another sentence, Rei let out a strangled growl of frustration, turned around and ran back to Grandfather Hino. "Grandpa!" she shouted. "Why… why did you offer her to stay here?"

"The poor girl doesn't really have any other place where she can go," Hino sighed. "Our crypt is the perfect place too hide her coffin… and remember, this is a house of god. We never turn away those in need."

"That's not what I meant! Of course we have to help her. But does she have to stay in my room? She's reading MY mangas!"

"You've lived on your own for some time now, Rei," Hino said sternly. "Way too long for a girl your age. Having a roommate can only be good experience for you."

"As long as she can put up with Minako's annoying voice," Artemis grumbled. He was curled up on top of Minako's coffin. "See it like this: At least you don't have to share a coffin with her for several hours."

* * *

Early in the morning, the Tsukino household saw the usual: Usagi came running downstairs in a hurry, hair unkempt, her schoolbag in her hand and shouting: "I'M LATE! I'M LATE!"

Her mother shook her head as she watched her daughter shovel down her breakfast. "Honestly, Usagi, this can't go on like this. You never get any sleep lately."

"I can't help it, Mom," Usagi said between bites. "I'm nocturnal now. And the summer nights are so beautiful, I just have to get out. I'm not really tired."

"If you say so… I still don't like it. Just don't let this affect your grades, you hear me?"

With a swift gulp, Usagi downed her milk and rushed out the door. "Will do, Mom! Bye!"

Ikuko looked after her with a sigh. "Knowing her, she sleeps at school instead… what am I going to do with that girl…"

With her children at school and her husband at work, she did the usual: She took care of the housework. It was a normal day for her… until she heard the doorbell while vacuuming the living room.

"Huh? I wonder who that could be," she said as she switched off the vacuum cleaner and went to open the door.

A handsome man with black hair stood outside. He looked as if he was a couple of years younger than she was. He wore a black business outfit and a smile that was sure to break any single woman's heart. "Excuse me… this is where Miss Usagi Tsukino lives, isn't it?"

"Ehm, yes," Ikuko said, a bit flustered. "May I ask who you are?"

"Oh, pardon me. I am Genya Arikado. I work for the government." He quickly showed her some sort of badge and put it away before she could take a closer look at it."

"The government?" Worry spread across the Tsukino matriarch's face immediately. "Oh dear… did something happen to Usagi?"

"No, no, that's not why I'm here," the man quickly reassured her. "It's a long story… could I come in? Then I can tell you all the details."

"Ah, yes… please, do come in," Ikuko nodded as she lead Mr. Arikado into the living room. "Please excuse the chaos, I was just cleaning…"

"That's all right, Arikado smiled as he sat down. Ikuko quickly got another chair and sat down as well.

"Well, about your daughter… it is a complicated matter. Before I go on, I need to know something: Are you aware of her… actions at night?"

Ikuko was surprised. "Oh… why, yes, I do. But how did you…?"

"As you must know, she did appear in the news recently," Arikado went on. "Finding out an inividuals identity isn't that hard after seeing him or her on screen. Well, as you might guess, I am from an investigation office that deals with that kind of business."

"What… business are we talking about, Mr. Arikado?" Ikuko asked.

"The supernatural, unexplainable for science. Vampires, werewolves, demons, the undead. Creatures that many people only see as fiction or superstition. My office is secret even among the government. Not many people outside of it know about the work of me and my colleagues. The only reason why I tell you this, Mrs. Tsukino, is because your daughter recently became a half-vampire… and because of the… special situation we're in."

"What situation?" Ikuko asked. "Is my daughter in trouble just because she's… half vampire? She never asked for this, and neither did we, her family."

"I know that," Arikado nodded. "As a half-vampire, she doesn't have the bloodlust of the true vampires. However, she needs to be registered in our office. Also, we need to ask her several important questions."

"Oh dear… she's at school right now. You could wait until she comes home… although, sometimes she goes somewhere with her friends instead."

"Could you give me the names and addresses of her friends?" Arikado asked.

"Why, certainly," she nodded. "There's Naru Osaka and Makoto Kino… wait a minute, I'll write down their addresses for you…"

Some time later, Genya Arikado left the Tsukino household. On the street, he ran into a young, blonde woman in a red dress. "Well? How did it go?"

"She has no idea of her daughter's true lineage," Arikado frowned. "And it sounds as if her daughter doesn't know of it either… or maybe she decided not to tell her family about it. I think we should visit the parents of her friends next. Their descriptions fit her companions."

"You mean the werewolf and the whip-girl? I really need to know how she managed to acquire that weapon… and if it's the real Vampire Killer. Okay, which one of these shall I pay a visit?"

"Neither," Arikado said. "I need you to go to the library, where a new acquaintance of mine is staying. Her name is Ami Mizuno… and I believe you could teach her one or two things about magic, Yoko."

"An apprentice?" the blonde witch frowned. "Never had one of those before. Oh well, I guess it beats fighting the undead in rotten crypts."

And while Alucard went to find out more about the background of a young werewolf and the latest successor of the Vampire Killer, Yoko Belnades drove to the library, to teach a young ghost more about the magic her family has used for decades… not knowing that she might indeed be a relative of hers.

* * *

"I hate the looks the others are giving me recently…" Makoto muttered as she, Naru and Usagi were sitting together for lunch. "Karin and her bunch are the worst… I bet they've spread news about the 'wild beast' I've become. I wouldn't be surprised if by next week, the whole school knows about my affliction." She lowered her head. "It's the same as always… as soon as someone finds out, it's just a matter of time before I have to drop out of school again…"

"Not if we have to say something about it," Naru intejected forcefully. "Besides, you're not alone. Usagi has to deal with the same… and some even see me as a 'freak', since I hang out with you guys."

"Naru… if you want to sit with the others, I won't blame you…" Usagi carefully said.

"Don't you start that now, too!" Naru shouted. "We're in this together. We're a team now!"

"Speaking of team…" Makoto then changed the subject. "Do you think letting Mina live with Rei was the best idea?"

"Of course!" Usagi said. "Mina-chan has no place to stay, her coffin fits into their crypt and Rei needs some more time with a friend she can socialize with."

"You're right about that," Naru admitted. "I think what Makoto is worried about is their… clashing personalities."

"Huh?" the young half-vampiress blinked, not understanding what her red-haired friend was getting at.

"They'll be getting on each others nerves in no time," Makoto sighed. "Still, it's the only solution we really have. Let's just hope they learn to get along before going at each other's throats."

"Minako certainly cheered up when Rei's grandpa offered her a place to stay," Naru said. "It really bothered her that we failed to revive her… and that the enemy took the amulet from us."

"We need to do something for her," Usagi said. "Let's find out more about Akmodan and the amulet at the library tonight."

"Good idea," Naru nodded. "I have a cousin working at the library… I'm sure she'll lend me the keys, so we can get in after closing time. That way, Minako and Rei can come and take a look, too."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Makoto nodded.

* * *

Kenji Tsukino sighed on his way home. It had been a stressful day at work. Knowing that his sweet daughter was now a vampire bothered him to no end. It was distracting him from his work, so much that he got yelled at by his boss.

"I don't know what to do," he murmured wearily as he got on the evening bus. It was empty except for one woman in one of the other seats. "Parents always worry about their children, especially when they're teenagers, but did a father ever have to deal with this before? My little sweetie could be hurt at night… and I'm not even there to protect her, because I'm sleeping. I'd do anything to protect my little Usagi…"

"Anything, you say?" the woman sitting close to him asked.

Kenji looked up in surprise. He'd been so in thought that he hadn't noticed that the curvaceous, beauty in the tight-fitting, revealing dress was sitting right next to him. She was giving him a smile that almost looked sultry.

"Pardon me," she said. "I didn't mean to intrude in your personal affairs. But I couldn't help but hear your worrisome murmurs from over here. You are worried about your daughter?"

Kenji knew that this was a complete stranger, but as long as he didn't tell her the true nature of his problems, he didn't see the harm in telling her about his problems with Usagi. Also, having someone to talk to felt relieving to him. Also, there was a lot worse than being in the company of a beautiful woman. He was a married man, sure, but any male who looked at this lovely lady and didn't enjoy the view had to be either dead or cold-blooded.

"My daughter… she often goes somewhere at night. I know it's important to her… but at the same time, I know it's wrong. A girl at her age should stay home in bed. It's dangerous out there, especially at that late hour, and even more so for a young girl like her. I only want to see her safe, see? But I know I can't stop her from going by simply grounding her… so what's a father to do?"

"Your daughter sounds like a rebellious teenager, indeed," the woman mused. "And the lure of the night is a strong one. Young girls like to go out at night even though they know of the dangers. And sometimes, it's the danger itself they seek."

"My poor girl," Kenji gasped. "What can I do?"

"Hmmm… I think I can help you with that, sir," the stranger smiled.

"R-really? But how? Do you know a way how I can make her realize that it's too dangerous?"

"Well… if someone she really, really cares about is in grave danger… mortal danger, even… she might realize that facing the dangers of the night is not in her best interest… nor in that of her family." She grinned, leaning closer to the surprised family father.

"What… what are you talking about?" he gulped. "Um, please don't come this close, lady… you're irritating me a bit…"

"It's easy…" the Succubus purred as she cast off her human disguise, revealing her demonic self. "We kill little Usagi's father, right in front of her eyes… that will be more than enough to teach her that siding with us might be the best decision… and safer for the rest of her family!"

Kenji had no time to call for help when the female demon wrapped her wings around his body and engulfed him in darkness.

* * *

Author's Notes:

I don't know yet if I will use Julius in this (if yes, then Naru's father could be his brother, cousin, nephew or son), but my decision not to use Soma stays. I know I might change a bit of Castlevania lore by doing this, but I guess I already did that anyway by introducing Usagi as Dracula's daughter.


End file.
